The Deserted
by Bethadots
Summary: King Alistair has left Denerim in the company of pirates on a quest to uncover one of the greatest secrets in the history of Thedas. Meanwhile, his queen has just found the note he left, and she has no intention of staying home and warming the throne for him... (Takes place alongside The Silent Grove comics, but you don't need to have read them)
1. Those Who Remain

_Author's Note: This story takes place alongside the events of The Silent Grove (and probably later, Those Who Speak and Until We Sleep). There will be a few spoilers from the comics. Don't worry if you haven't read the comics though – all you need to know is that King Alistair has run off to Antiva with the pirate queen Isabela in search of his long lost father. Meanwhile in Ferelden…_

* * *

**Chapter One – Those Who Remain**

Harmony un-crumpled the note in her hand and read it again. The words hadn't changed, but they somehow made her angrier this time. She was supposed to come home to a husband, not a handful of hastily scribbled words.

She wanted to scream. She wanted to throw the candlestick through the mirror. She wanted to tear through the palace and rip apart everything in her wake. But it was behaviour unbecoming of a Hero of Ferelden, let alone a Queen.

A pillow bore the brunt of her temper. Ripping through a hurlock with her daggers would have been better therapy, but the blight was long over and beggars couldn't be choosers. The air was thick with feathers by the time a maid rushed in to see what was making so much noise.

"Everything all right, Your Majesty?"

Harmony wasn't allowed to show her distress. She was the canary in the cave, the one Ferelden looked to for reassurance. She rolled her shoulders back, took a deep breath and forced her mouth to spread into a reassuring smile. "Just an accident. Sorry about the mess."

* * *

The palace library was empty save for one person. Technically she was a prisoner, but in truth she was one of the few in whom Harmony could confide.

Anora was quiet these days. She didn't twist her hair up anymore; her blonde locks hung in sheets to her waist. She sat with perfect posture, ankles neatly crossed, book held up to her face. She knew Harmony was stood there but pretended not to notice.

"What do you know of Maric?" Harmony asked, pulling up a chair on the opposite side of the table.

"I know it was his indiscretion that put a bastard on the throne," she answered, not looking up from the pages of her Nevarran romance. "Well, that and your ambition."

She was only bitter on some days. Usually it made things harder, but today it seemed strangely fitting.

_You were the one who refused to marry him_, Harmony felt like saying, but she bit her tongue. They'd been over this countless times. It was understandable; Alistair had been the one to execute her father. It was hard to move on from something like that.

Harmony pulled the note from her pocket and slid it across the table to Ferelden's former queen.

_"I love you. I'm sorry. I need to find out what happened to my father," _Anora read aloud.

This was the distance between them. It had started with a thing left unsaid, a secret Alistair held close to his heart, and it had grown into a great chasm. Now she knew. But now it was too late. Harmony was alone.

Anora let out a frustrated sigh. "My father spent two years looking for Maric. He was convinced the disappearance was some Orlesian plot. He burned through half the treasury on the search before we could convince him to come home for the funeral."

"Do you think he's really dead?"

The former queen shrugged. "There's a corpse at the bottom of the sea or there isn't. Either way King Maric is gone. If the man is still alive then he abandoned Ferelden, and that's worse than him dying." You could always count on Anora to speak her mind.

"Did Cailan think he might be alive?" Harmony asked, a tad reluctant to bring up the woman's late husband.

"No," the answer came after a moment's thought. "Cailan had a weakness for legendary tales of lost kings and glorious adventure. If even a part of him thought Maric was still out there, he would have run off on some fool quest to…" Anora stopped herself.

It constantly surprised the both of them how much Maric's two sons had in common.

"You can't go chasing after him," warned Anora. "Ferelden needs you here."

"No, I need to go." Harmony hadn't even noticed her hands curl into clenched fists.

"Harmony…"

"I'm not you, Anora," she snapped. "I don't lounge around the palace playing politics while my husband needlessly throws himself into harm's way."

The slap came out of nowhere. It was sharp and sudden and left Harmony's cheek glowing red. She stared back at the former queen, panting heavily through the sting of it. She didn't retaliate.

Anora's hand trembled as if it had been holding back from doing that for a long time. A part of Harmony was grateful; not many tried to knock sense into her these days. She gave herself a moment to breathe deeply so that her next words would sound calm and confident.

"We fell in love fighting side by side. Whatever's gone wrong here, that's how we'll fix it. I can't let him do this alone," she said, getting to her feet and turning to leave as if nothing had happened.

"You're a fool," Anora scoffed.

Harmony's eyes were cold as she glanced back over her shoulder. "I think you made a better queen too, but it's too late to change that now."

* * *

Teagan's face was supposed to go slack with shock as Harmony told him of the King's disappearance. Instead his eyes softened with guilt.

"You already knew," she sighed as she realised.

"It's not like that, Your Majesty."

Harmony just rolled her eyes. "Don't _Your Majesty_ me, I trusted you." She started pacing the floor, her footsteps echoing through the dark of the empty throne room.

Bann Teagan's voice was a mere whisper. "Look, a few nights ago while you were still off in Highever, I helped him sneak out to a tavern near the docks. He said he was meeting up with an old friend."

_Old friend_ usually meant someone from their warden days. Last she'd heard, Wynne and Shale were caught up with mage politics in Orlais. Leliana served the Divine now. Oghren was at Vigil's Keep. Morrigan and Sten were both long gone. That left… No, it couldn't be him.

"Yesterday I caught Alistair taking his things from the armoury. He wouldn't say where he was headed. He told me that if anything happened, a sea captain named Isabela would bring word. He put some money aside to pay her."

"Isabela…" Harmony repeated. Alistair had mentioned running into the woman last year in Kirkwall, before all that trouble with the mages. Just how long had he been planning this?

"You know of her?" Teagan asked. She could tell from the quiver in his voice that he was just as uneasy about this as she was.

"Less than I'd like." She didn't think it would do any good to mention the word _pirate_, though it was certainly on her mind.

"Harmony, you can't just commandeer a ship and follow. Alistair's leaving can be passed off as some diplomatic crisis that needs his attention. But if it looks like his Queen is chasing him… things in Ferelden are fragile enough."

"I can't let him go Teagan," she argued. No matter what, she wouldn't let him talk her out of this. "I'm the Hero of Ferelden. I can't stay and warm the throne while he puts himself in danger."

He heaved a tired sigh, clearly uncomfortable to find himself in the middle of the situation. There was a long pause before he voiced his advice. "If you insist on following, there are ways you could do it discreetly. Why not head to Vigil's Keep, start your search from there? Whatever you do then it will look like Warden business."

It was a clever notion. "You have a point," she conceded.

"Maker knows I'm not sure it's best for you to leave so soon after…" he cut himself off before he let himself touch on a sore subject. "But you ended the blight. Chasing a King is child's play compared to that. Bring him back to us, my Queen." He clapped a hand to her shoulder reassuringly.

Harmony let herself breathe easy for a moment. At least the country would be left in capable hands.

* * *

Bandit, ever the faithful warhound, was still curled up at the foot of the bed when she arrived back at the quarters she shared with Ferelden's king. The mabari had seen better days. His bones creaked audibly as he struggled to his feet, and she could tell it had taken tremendous effort just to stand and greet her.

His tail wagged half-heartedly as he watched her fetch her old travelling clothes from the cupboards. He had that look in his eye, the same one he used to get when he was just a pup and they'd go running through the fields of Highever together. She didn't doubt that he still had the spirit of a warrior willing to follow her to the void and back. But those legs could barely carry him out of the palace these days. This was something she would have to face without him at her side.

"Sorry boy. Not this time."

_You're too old for adventures now, my sweet,_ she wanted to say, but she knew he would understand those words perfectly. She knew they would break his heart.

"I need you here to look after Teagan. All right?" It was a lie, but he believed it. He let out a sad whine and settled back down at the foot of the bed.

The belt needed to be loosened a notch or two, but most of her old things still fit. It would be better this way. She would be unnoticed, unrecognised as she slipped out of the palace in her old gear. Just a normal person again. A part of her couldn't wait.

When the time came to say goodbye, Bandit had already drifted back to sleep. His feet twitched as he dreamt, chasing darkspawn and giant rats and who knew what else across the fade. There was no sense waking him. She smiled at her oldest friend and slipped out the door.

* * *

From the outside, the tavern was everything you'd expect from a watering hole by the docks. Loose shingles clattering on the roof, a rusty sign creaking in the wind, paint peeling off the windows. Through the grimy glass she could see a table full of rowdy dockworkers playing Wicked Grace. Two of the men broke into a brawl over the outcome of their last hand, nobody batted an eyelid.

Harmony was still deciding whether or not it would be a good idea to enter when the very man she was looking for burst out and stumbled into the nearest alleyway, already unbuttoning his trousers ready to take a piss. She stayed silent and followed after him.

She plucked a pebble from the ground and threw it past her target. It ricocheted off the wall and bounced off into the darkness. As the man looked away toward the source of the noise, she took her chance and sprung at him from behind. He barely had time to face her before she had her dagger resting at his throat.

"Don't tell me you've gone soft after all these years?" Harmony teased.

That trademark wicked grin spread across Zevran Arainai's lips, and it was only then that Harmony noticed his dagger was already resting against her stomach. "Me? Soft? Unthinkable," he whispered.

Inside the place was just as bad as it looked, and there was the smell to contend with too. The regulars did nothing but unload cargo all day, and most stank of fish and sweat. Her Antivan friend didn't seem to notice.

"So what brings you here?" she asked him as he returned from the bar carrying a pint in each hand. The mugs looked like they might have been made from clear glass once upon a time, but now they were decidedly brown.

"You'd be amazed at what one can learn when one buys the drinks in a place like this. So many ill-treated employees come to drown their sorrows. It's terribly good for business," he answered, sliding her drink across the table. He hadn't changed a bit. He was already smirking at the look on Harmony's face as she pretended the shady inn didn't bother her.

"I meant, what brings you to Ferelden?"

"I came to bring your husband some information." He paused to take a deep swig from his mug. "But then you knew that, you're just toying with me."

Harmony decided there was nothing for it but to follow suit. She tipped her head back and drank. She did her best not to pull a face at the taste of it as she wiped the froth from her lip. "I can't believe you came all this way and you weren't even going to pay me a visit."

"My dear grey warden, you know I could never pass through the capital without giving you my regards. I simply thought you might need a few days to cool down first," he said with a shrug. He had known then, that Alistair was about to pull a vanishing act.

"I'm not angry, Zev," she assured him. "Not with you anyway."

"No?" he chuckled. "You haven't put a blade to my throat since the time I tried to have you killed."

"I'm not angry because you're going to tell me where he went. And because you're going to come with me to get him back," Harmony said, an expression on her face that all of her former companions knew better than to argue with.

"Well," Zevran's mouth spread into a mischievous grin, "this is starting to sound like the makings of an adventure."


	2. Journey to the Keep

**Chapter Two – Journey to the Keep**

It wasn't far from dawn as Harmony and Zevran managed to sneak out of the palace stables on borrowed horses. The night was crisp and clear as they rode out through the city's west gate. They were just starting to breathe easy, thinking the theft had gone unnoticed, when four knights in plain armour rode out from the gatehouse and trotted to catch up to them.

They weren't wearing their usual uniforms but Harmony recognised them straight away as her personal bodyguards. Ser Ellin was their leader, a formidable woman, stern face hidden behind a silverite helm. The other three were cycled through every few weeks, most not managing to meet Ellin's high expectations for long. Currently they were Iwan, Antain and Leith. Harmony knew little of them save that Ellin had deemed them trustworthy enough to protect her.

"Let me guess, Teagan sent you?" she asked them, trying but failing to not sound disgruntled about their arrival.

Ser Ellin nodded once.

"Sorry, Your Majesty. Orders are orders," Leith apologised. Ellin glanced in his direction briefly, but said nothing. Harmony had a feeling that meant that Leith wouldn't be sticking around for long.

There was no point in arguing; it would only delay them further. Instead she sighed in resignation and carried on down the road. At least they'd had the foresight to wear simple splintmail instead of their uniforms. The Queen was eager to reach Vigil's Keep as quickly as possible, and the best way to do that was to go unrecognised.

They rode hard through the day, only stopping as often as the horses needed. Zevran had been overjoyed at the sight of his palace thoroughbred at the start of their journey, but hours unending in the saddle and Harmony's relentless pace soon stomped out his enthusiasm.

"I'm starting to wonder why we spent so much time wishing we had some of these during the blight. I don't think I'll be able to sit down for a week."

A crude joke popped into Harmony's mind, but she kept it to herself. The elf didn't need encouraging.

* * *

They stopped at a stream to water the horses and give them a decent rest. It was late afternoon by then and the winter sun was a glaring orange as it sank behind the hilltops. Harmony's mount was a chesnut colour that matched the sunset. She couldn't help but be reminded of Alistair's coppery hair as she stood beside it in the stream, stroking its mane as it drank.

"Remind me again why Teagan insists on sending a babysitter to mind the Hero of Ferelden?" Zevran asked, nodding to their guards.

The answer came not from Harmony, but Ser Ellin. "Even a capable fighter can meet bad luck on the road. Her Majesty might be a Hero of Ferelden, but she is also her Queen. She must be protected at all times." She took the helm off as she spoke. Harmony couldn't help but laugh as Zevran's eyes went wide with shock. He had only just realised he was speaking to a woman.

"Zevran, meet Ser Ellin. You can roll your eyes at her as much as you like, she won't back off. I've tried."

Ellin was pretty in spite of her mannish frame. She had long lashes, high cheekbones and amber coloured curls that were swept back into a low ponytail. "What Her Majesty sees as an imposition, I see as the duty I was charged with when appointed her protector," she told him sternly.

"She's upset because I wouldn't let her wear her pretty royal guard armour," Harmony teased.

"Armour is armour, it's all the same to me. But you're safer on the road when people can see the Theirin banner above your head. The safer you are, the less I need to worry."

"Just admit it, we're making good time without well-wishers from every farmhold popping out to greet us," the Queen argued.

The guardswoman's voice was deadpan as she responded. "You'd make even better time if we fired you from a ballista. That doesn't make it the best option."

A quiet smile swept over Zevran's face. "I had no idea Ferelden kept such lovely women hidden under such unflattering armour."

Harmony thought she saw the slightest blush begin to creep across Ser Ellin's cheeks as the woman lowered her helm back over her head. Ellin was humourless, and dutiful to a fault. Not the type to respond well to Antivan flattery. Watching Zevran annoy the patience out of the woman who was constantly breathing down her neck would probably make for a decent bit of entertainment the rest of the way to Vigil's Keep.

They left the stream on foot, having decided to give the horses a rest from their passengers for a while. Back up on the road they were surprised find a group of armed men blocking their path.

"Not leaving so soon, are you?" one of them called.

Harmony counted eight, each clad in mismatching sets of rusting armour. Everything about them screamed highwaymen, all scars and tattoos, not a bar of soap shared between them. Their weapons were already drawn. Her horse began throwing its head and stamping its feet, making it difficult to hold on to the reigns. Its instincts were already telling it to flee.

"Don't talk to them, just move on," Ellin instructed, stepping forward to make sure that she was between her queen and the ruffians.

Insulted by that, one of them plucked a rock from the ground and hurled it. Instead of hitting Ellin though, it grazed Iwan on the cheek. Blood dribbled down his face. He went to draw his sword but Ellin put a hand on his arm to stop him.

They should have mounted while they had the chance. Now the horses were unsettled. They weren't battle-hardened chevalier's steeds, they were bred for speed alone. If a fight broke out, they would surely try to bolt.

"Why attack us?" Ellin demanded. "We've done nothing to you."

The one who seemed to be their leader stepped forwards. "This here's our stream. It's twenty silver a head if you want to drink from it. Fifty per horse."

One of the others kicked at the ground, rolling a small pile of dung away from him. "Their horses done their business everywhere too," he said with feigned disgust.

The leader shook his head. "Tsk tsk, there's a fine for that, you know. One sovereign per horse. All in all that's… eighteen sovereigns you owe us."

"And we thought Oghren was bad at counting," Harmony muttered to Zevran.

"This land belongs to the arling of Amaranthine. You have no claim to it. Let us pass," Ellin barked, temper clearly fraying.

"Keep a civil tongue, friend. You're more outnumbered than you realise." His impish grin did nothing to mask the implied threat.

Harmony glanced down to the stream then out at the trees, but saw nobody. If these men truly did have others waiting, they were hidden well. More likely it was just a bluff. She was beginning to worry, not for her own safety but for theirs. They thought they were threatening any old band of adventurers. They had no idea who was in front of them.

"We'll take it in trade if you haven't the money. You could leave us a horse. Or some of your equipment." The man looked at Harmony for a moment and arched an eyebrow lasciviously. "Or that woman of yours, she's not too bad on the eyes."

Knowing Ellin, the plan until that point had been to ignore the men, push through their little roadblock and report them to the proper authorities as soon as possible. But if there was one thing those toads could have done to make the guardswoman turn on them, it was threaten her charge.

There was scarcely time to blink before Ellin's greatsword was in her hands, white steel glinting in the sunlight. She didn't waste a second before she charged in at them.

To draw the blade she'd had to drop her horse's reins. Now the creature reared up in panic and started for the stream. Iwan, Antain and Leith followed suit, and in the briefest instant the whole situation dissolved into clashing blades and panicked mounts.

Harmony let go of her chesnut mare and patted it on the rump to send it running. Catching it later wouldn't be an easy feat, but it was better than watching the poor thing injure itself in the fray.

"I sense an _I told you so_ moment coming soon," she sighed, drawing her daggers.

"You stay back," she heard Ellin roar over the sound of her blade clashing with one of theirs. Harmony scowled, though she hardly planned on heeding those words.

In the corner of her eye she saw a flurry of arrows coming towards them. One would have hit Zevran in the neck but she yanked on the straps of his leather armour just quick enough that it skimmed past his nose. Her eyes followed the course of the arrows back to the trees where four men with bows stood to pick her party off from the side. Zevran saw them too.

"We need an Arainai special. You game?"

"Always," Zevran answered with a devious chuckle. He pulled a flask from his belt and threw it to the ground. A flash of smoke covered their escape into the trees, and by the time it had cleared the two rogues were nowhere to be seen.

She felt like herself again, sprinting through the bushes in secret to flank the enemy. It brought back memories she hadn't realised she missed. A moment later, the four archers let out brief yelps of pain and dropped to their knees in unison, dead too soon to be surprised by the dagger tips protruding from their chests.

Back on the road, her bodyguards had made short work of the rest of their attackers, and it wasn't long before most of them were dead. Only two of them had the sense to drop their blades and make a run for it.

Harmony found herself breathing so hard from the effort of it that she was woozy. She bent forwards, hands on her knees, staring down at the corpse on its stomach in front of her.

"I'll check the bodies," Zevran was saying. "They seem a shabby bunch so I doubt this was personal, but one never knows when…" he cut himself off as Harmony sank to the ground. "Were you hit?"

She shook her head. "No, just… out of… practice…" she panted, feeling ridiculous. She hadn't realised she had become so unfit. She expected Zevran to make fun of her for it, but instead he nodded and left to search their attackers.

Ellin walked over and sat in the grass beside the Queen. She didn't rub it in, but they both knew she was thinking that the attack would never have occurred had the royal banner been flying.

"I hadn't seen you fight before," the guardswoman nodded to the corpses with reserved approval.

"You still haven't. That was just sneaking," Harmony pointed out.

Ellin leaned over, pulled the daggers from the backs of the two archers, wiped them off in the grass and handed them back. "I liked the part where you were out of the fray."

"I thought you might."

They watched as the three guardsmen hurried to catch the spooked horses.

"Antain was slow on the draw, don't you think? And Iwan's got a cut on his face. These riff-raff shouldn't have been able to touch a royal guard." Ellin complained.

"Maker's breath. If I'd had you with us during the blight I think we would have ended up storming Denerim alone," Harmony said, she couldn't help but laugh. "Then again, you probably would've just glared disapprovingly at the archdemon and sent him home."

Ellin pursed her lips at the comment but said nothing.

The bandits had little to their name, but Zevran pocketed what few coins they carried on principle. From the shabbiness of their equipment and their inexperience on the field, all agreed that these were simple highwaymen with no motive other than desperation.

Harmony was troubled though, to find herself so wearied by the ordeal. A seed of doubt took root in her mind; what if her body let her down and she found herself unable to help Alistair because of it? It was looking like she might have to rely on her friends more than she wanted to. She could only hope with all her heart that they wouldn't ask the question she wasn't ready to answer.

* * *

It was late by the time they reached Vigil's Keep, and there was nobody to greet them but the night watch. Honestly she preferred it that way. The night was misty, the keep's towers shrouded from view, but Harmony could still feel those ancient stone walls looming above her.

"Should we tell the Seneschal you've arrived?" one of the night watchmen asked.

Harmony threw him the reigns of her horse as she dismounted. "Let him sleep. I'll see him in the morning."

"As you wish, Warden Commander."

Ah yes. She'd almost forgotten that this place had her shackled to a different title.

Soon she was in her bedchamber, lying on that familiar four-poster bed that had been hers during the months following the blight. She was thankful that the journey north had left her body exhausted, or her mind would never have given her the peace to sleep. There wasn't much time to think of her missing husband before she was unconscious.

"Alistair, you ass," she muttered under her breath, drifting back through her memories as she slowly sunk into deep slumber.

* * *

_~ Harmony woke with a start, sitting up and desperately gasping for air as if she'd just resurfaced from deep water. Alistair was in her tent now, crouched beside her looking uncharacteristically serious.  
_

_"Easy. It's just a bad dream," he said knowingly. _

_That was putting it mildly. She had been face to face with a dragon. Only it wasn't a dragon, not really. It was a cruel, twisted imitation of a dragon. Rotting flesh, wriggling with maggots, dripping evil and darkness, arranged into the shape of a dragon. It roared so loudly, so terribly, that she felt her soul shake. _

_Harmony felt like a child, so weak and small in the face of her nightmares. Without thinking she threw her arms around his waist and buried her face in his chest, trying desperately not to cry. He seemed taken aback at first, but then he wrapped an arm around her and held her close._

_"It felt so real," she whimpered, clinging ever so tightly. It was madness, she barely knew the man, but just then it seemed like he was the only person left alive she could trust.  
_

_"Well it is real, sort of. Part of being a Grey Warden is being able to hear the darkspawn. That's what your dream was. Hearing them. The archdemon, it... talks to the horde, and we feel it just as they do. That's why we know this is really a Blight."_

_She pulled away, ashamed to look at him. _

_"When I heard you crying in your sleep I thought I should come in and tell you."_

_"Thank you, Alistair. I appreciate it," she told him, staring at the ground, cursing herself for being so weak in that moment. ~_

* * *

Harmony opened her eyes. It was eight years, one archdemon, a wedding and a coronation later. She'd always thought things would be easier by now.


	3. Into the Darkness

**Chapter Three – Into the Darkness**

It was still dark when Harmony woke. Sunrise was an hour or two away but her eyes refused to stay closed any longer. Ellin herself was stood outside the door. Of course she was. The woman would never trust Iwan, Antain or Leith to stay awake through last watch.

"I'm heading to the courtyard to train. You coming?" Harmony asked her. She already wore her leather armour, already had daggers strapped to her back.

"Of course, Your Majesty." The woman had repeatedly been given permission to call her Harmony, but still clung to the title. Titles were proper, and so was Ellin.

There was nobody around as they descended the steps of the tower. It was that beautiful time of day when all was still and quiet. No decisions to make. No crises to solve yet. Just time to think, and to prepare for the journey ahead. Or so Harmony hoped, until Ser Ellin let out an awkward cough.

"Your Majesty, about this elven friend of yours. Should I be worried?"

"Is it time for the Zevran talk already?" Harmony forced a disinterested sigh. "Let's see… He's not from Ferelden. He's a trained killer. He's not the sort of man a lady of my stature should be associating with. You're not sure you trust his intentions around the wife of your King. And his lewd comments are insufferable." It surprised her how much she sounded like Wynne as she listed the elf's faults. "Did I miss anything?"

"I think that about covers it."

"Look, Zevran's saved my life more times than I can count. He's a dear friend, that's all he's ever been. He helped to defeat the blight and that makes him a friend to Ferelden as well. You needn't worry about him or his intentions. He's a good man."

"I understand." The words seemed to put Ellin at ease.

Harmony's mouth spread into a wicked grin. "Besides, the one time he actually tried to kill me it was a really botched job. My dog tossed him about like a rag doll."

Ellin pursed her lips but didn't rise to the bait. It seemed four years of guarding Harmony had left her with the sense to know when to drop a subject.

* * *

Down in the courtyard they found a lone warden firing arrows at a training dummy. The aim was deadly, each shot piercing the dummy near the centre of its chest. It was especially impressive considering it was still dark.

The man holding the bow hadn't changed. He knew he was being watched from the doorstep but didn't lose focus for a second until his quiver was empty. Then he brushed a strand of ebony hair from his eyes and nodded to Harmony.

"Nathaniel," she called.

"It's good to see you," he answered, voice as growly as ever. "Who's your friend?"

"My shadow, you mean? This is Ser Ellin."

"My lady." Nathaniel bowed his head to the guardswoman. Ellin gave a brief salute and stood at attention to the side of the firing line.

"Isn't it a bit early for target practice?" Harmony asked as the man walked forward to retrieve his arrows.

He shrugged. "It takes me a while to adjust when I've been in the Deep Roads. That last expedition took months, I'm still happier to get my practice in while it's dark."

Harmony waited for her friend to be clear of the target, then pulled one of her knives from her belt and sent it soaring. Straight away she could feel it was a bad throw. It bumped handle-first into the dummy's leg then dropped to the ground.

"Maldición!" she muttered. Zevran had taught her to fling knives like an assassin. Along the way she'd picked up the Antivan curses to match.

Nathaniel slotted the arrows back in his quiver. "We've seen less and less of you at Vigil's Keep these last few months. The recruits are starting to think you don't care."

She felt a pang of guilt. It was understood that Alistair's Queen had other duties that took her from Vigil's Keep. More often than not she was more a figurehead than a leader these days. Nathaniel and the others got by, but it still felt like letting them down.

"I was in Highever for a while. There's been a lot happening," she answered vaguely. A hasty subject change was in order. "Speaking of which, did you know my brother won't stop talking about you?"

"Ah, that. We met again recently." He was clearly embarrassed by the news.

"You saved his life, Nathaniel."

"I did what any warden would have done."

"Fergus is my last living relative. I owe you a great debt," she assured him with a pat on the shoulder.

She'd meant them as words of praise, but their history was too complex for him to hear it that way. Nathaniel's mouth hovered open a moment as if he had something to say, instead he sighed, turned back to the dummy and loosed another arrow.

Eight years wasn't long when it came to loss of family. A part of each of them was still in mourning. They'd become friends in spite of their lost fathers, yet beneath that friendship there would always be painful truths left unspoken.

She smiled softly as he took aim once again. "That's the pose you should make when my brother commissions your statue," she teased, hoping to coax him back to a good mood.

Nathaniel lowered his bow and looked at her seriously. "How long can we expect you to stay this time, Commander?"

"I was planning to spend a few weeks here training the new recruits, but something's come up. I need a ship."

"There are no ships in Denerim?"

Harmony pulled a second knife from her belt. She lifted it to eye-level to help her aim. "Everyone knows Amaranthine is the gem of the Waking Sea," she said with mock awe. The knife flew. A strike to the seam in the dummy's right shoulder. Sand and stuffing poured from the tear she had caused. Getting warmer.

Ellin piped up. "Bann Teagan made her promise to make it look like she was leaving on warden business so the country doesn't think she's deserted them."

"And where are you really going?" There was worry in that tone.

"Antiva, from the sounds of things."

Nathaniel arched an eyebrow. "Do I want to know?"

"Probably not." Besides, Harmony didn't want to talk about it. Talking only brought Alistair to mind, and the thought of him left her unsure if she wanted to sob or hit things.

"Listen. I'll make you a bargain," he offered. "Spend the day with your recruits. They deserve some face-time with the Commander. Then see me tonight in the study. I think I have a way for you to reach Antiva without anyone seeing you leave, if that's what you really want."

"All right, Howe. It's a deal." At that, she pulled her last knife from her belt and sent it soaring across the courtyard. It whistled through the air and struck the dummy in the forehead with a satisfying thud. A throw even an Antivan crow would be proud of. Perhaps her skills hadn't deserted her just yet.

* * *

As agreed, Harmony spent the day with her recruits. She watched them train and offered her advice. She inspected the grounds and she took some time to get to know the unfamiliar faces. They were showing a lot of promise; Nathaniel had done a fine job.

She was happy to see that all was well, but for Harmony the place felt empty. The faces that once made her feel at home here had mostly gone. Velanna had vanished without a trace, chasing the ghost of her sister. Justice and Anders had been forced to run to Kirkwall. Their joining together had created a spark and begun a fire across much of Thedas.

Then there was Sigrun. The last legionnaire had sworn to die fighting darkspawn, every couple of years she sank into the caverns below to meet that fate. Usually she returned to the Keep in the night without saying a word. This time months had passed with no sign. Perhaps she was truly gone.

Another pang of guilt. Perhaps the Commander should have been around to stop her.

Evening had fallen by the time the warden recruits and the seneschal had run out of things requiring her attention. There was just time to pay a visit to some old friends.

"I was wondering when you'd stop by," Felsi said with a sideways smile as the door swung open. She took Harmony by the arm and pulled her in out of the cold. "They're through there," she said, shoving her into the sitting room.

This was the house that Harmony had granted to Oghren. It sat within the grounds of Vigil's Keep. Close enough for the dwarf to continue being a warden, and large enough to house his wife and child.

There was a roaring fire and a collection of mismatched armchairs; some sized for humans, some sized for dwarves. Oghren was sat with his feet resting on a low table, and she was surprised to find Zevran beside the fireplace, leaning into the wall.

"So then I say, 'Nobody touches Oghren's junk and lives!' and I run at him."

Zevran let out a snort of laughter before he looked up and noticed Harmony. "My dear grey warden. Oghren here has just been telling of your adventures here when the darkspawn were still about."

"Only the good parts, don't worry," the dwarf assured her.

"Of course." Harmony knew that Oghren's idea of _the good parts_ meant the parts where he was killing things, and that the politics and intrigue of those times would be gone entirely from the telling.

Her friend had more beard than she remembered, and he looked smaller without his heavy plate on. There was a contented smile on his face as he reclined in his chair, rosy-cheeked and tipsy, mug in hand.

"It's good to see you, Your Magnificencyfullyness," he slurred.

She laughed. "Just Harmony will do. You're looking well, Oghren." She was too polite to add that he also smelled better than usual. Having a woman around was certainly doing him some good.

"How are you settling in, Felsi?" Harmony asked as the woman shuffled in behind her.

"Beats working in a tavern," she answered with a cheerful shrug. As Harmony crossed the room to join Zevran by the fire, she wondered privately if living with Oghren and working in a tavern could be all that different.

"Papa," a high-pitched voice called out from the next room.

"Wait till you see this," Zevran muttered, clearly trying to suppress a smirk.

A stout little girl waddled in through the doorway, barely tall enough to reach Harmony's hip. The hair was flame red and tied into pigtail braids. She was carrying a waraxe, not a child-size plaything made from wood, but a real one with a steel head. It took both the girl's hands to carry it, and she couldn't lift it higher than her own elbows, but the look of determination on her face left no doubt as to whose daughter she was.

"Papa, you said we could play today," she whined at Oghren.

"That's a toy?" Harmony arched an eyebrow.

"It's blunted!" Oghren said indignantly.

Felsi rested a hand on her daughter's shoulder. "This little lady is Mona. Oghren wanted to name her Harmony, but he couldn't spell it.

"Neither could you, woman," the warrior grunted.

Harmony gave a warm smile and a nod. "It's nice to finally meet you, Mona." She was so happy to see Oghren's family all together that tears began to prick at her eyes. Family was a privilege afforded few wardens.

"Watch this," said Zevran, and he knelt down beside the little dwarf girl. "Mona, tell your uncle Zev what you'd like to be when you grow up."

"I want to be a sassin!" she replied with great enthusiasm.

Oghren's brow knitted into a serious frown. "Warrior. War-ree-or," he corrected, enunciating the word as if saying it slowly would change the girl's mind.

Mona shook her head and repeated, "Sassin."

The elf grinned smugly. "My work here is done."

"Sodding crow," was Oghren's only response.

* * *

Nathaniel unrolled the map so that it lay flat on the table. He set his candlestick down on one corner to hold it open, and placed a finger on Vigil's Keep.

"These are the tunnels we sealed up when you first took command here. When the First Warden asked us to travel to the Primitive Thaig discovered by explorers from Kirkwall, I had my suspicions that the tunnels here might go all the way under the Waking Sea. Voldrik let my expedition through and resealed it behind us."

"You were right." Harmony realised, tracing her finger along the road. It snaked beneath Brandel's Reach and ended up on the other side of the Waking Sea.

"You could get all the way to the Ostwick without anybody seeing you leave the Keep." Nathaniel took a step back to make room for Ellin, Zevran and Oghren to pore over the map.

"It wouldn't be hard to take ship from there to Antiva City. It's a common stop on the trade route from Val Royeux," Zevran offered.

"Oh aye, show up on some Orlesian boat full of fancy cheeses? You won't need to look for Alistair, he'll find you," Oghren jested.

"That's_ if_ you want to risk the Deep Roads," Nathaniel continued. "I don't need to remind you that the place is crawling with spiders, stalkers, darkspawn… variations on those themes. Not to mention the things we can't talk about in front of…" he nodded to Ellin and Zevran. Grey warden business in recent years had taken a turn for the strange. Deep road happenings in this part of Thedas had attracted the attention of the First Warden himself. Such things weren't for the ears of outsiders.

"You'll lend me your maps?" Harmony asked him.

"I can do better than that. I can lead you there myself."

"You'd do that?"

Ellin butted in before he could answer. "This plan is too risky," she snorted.

Harmony bit her tongue to keep from snapping at the woman. She wasn't some precious little flower ready to wilt at the slightest provocation. She was a fearless dragonslayer. Vanquisher of the blight. Eight feet tall with lightning bolts shooting out of her eyes. She was tired of being treated otherwise.

"Not for a grey warden," she insisted.

Nathaniel moved to stand beside her. "Not for two grey wardens."

"Certainly not for three," Oghren added, banging a fist into his chest.

* * *

Her friends split up to gather their things, reconvening that night atop the stairs that led to the Keep's lower levels.

Harmony could sense an argument coming with Ellin as if it were a brewing storm. She had hoped for a chance to slip away from her bodyguard's notice, but the woman seemed to sense as much. The only time Ellin even turned her back on the queen was to mutter some brief instructions to Antain and Iwan. Leith had been conspicuously absent since breakfast; Harmony was beginning to think he'd already been dismissed.

The Keep's stonemason, Voldrik, wasn't pleased to be asked to unseal the gate a second time. "It's supposed to stay shut. The more you fiddle with it, the sooner you'll need a new one," he griped repeatedly as they followed the winding corridors of the ancient cellars. It took the promise of expensive upgrades to appease him.

The dwarven contraption clicked and whirred loudly as the mechanisms within drew it open. Everyone drew their weapons in case any darkspawn swarmed out from the other side. When all that awaited was a cold and empty tunnel, there was a collective sigh of relief.

Harmony marched past the threshold and turned to face her friends. They were all ready to follow, all dressed for war. The only problem was that this didn't feel like anyone's battle but hers. It didn't feel right to be dragging them into this.

"Last chance, Zev. I won't force you to come if you don't want to," she warned the elf.

He just laughed and moved to join her. "Your first trip to Antiva? I wouldn't miss it."

Oghren marched through like he meant business, battleaxe in hand. Nathaniel took a torch down from the wall and followed without a word. Harmony didn't ask her wardens if they wanted to stay behind, she knew they would only take offence.

Then Ellin stepped forwards. "I've sent Sers Iwan, Antain and Leith back to Denerim. They're jumpy and they whine too much. They'd only be a hindrance in the Deep Roads."

"Go with them," Harmony ordered. "I won't risk your life down here."

"I risk my life whether you want me to or not," she snorted. "Duty insists that I guard you wherever you go. I swore as much."

That wasn't entirely true. Even Ellin hadn't been allowed to come with her to Highever. Perhaps it was those months apart that made her presence seemed so smothering now.

"You know full well that it's not your job to stick your nose into grey warden business," Harmony snapped. She was tired of being civil.

"And we both know full well that you are not here on warden business, Your Majesty."

"Why is it that when you call me _Your Majesty,_ it comes out sounding like _You Idiot_?" She didn't mean to raise her voice, but Ellin wasn't listening. "I won't make you follow me into…"

"You're not making me," Ellin shouted back. "I follow of my own volition."

"Why? Why can't you just do as I ask?" the Queen demanded.

"Because I'm doing as my King asked," came her answer.

Harmony let out an exhausted sigh. There was no arguing with that. There was no more Alistair to laugh and tell the woman to back off. She and Ellin were stuck with each other.

"It's dangerous down here," she warned her bodyguard, voice lowered now. "There could be any number of darkspawn lurking in these tunnels, and even if they don't kill you, their blood can taint yours. Or they could take you. You don't even want to know what happens to the women they take."

"I understand."

Harmony wanted to laugh. The woman couldn't possibly understand. Not unless she saw the horror for herself.

"I'm the Warden Commander down here, not your charge, not the wife of your King. In the Deep Roads I give the orders. If you don't heed them, you won't survive. Understood?"

In the corner of her eye she saw Oghren and Nathaniel exchange uneasy glances. It was that tone, the one that her old companions knew better than to argue with. She'd been hearing herself use it more and more the last couple of days.

"Understood," Ellin repeated. There was the slightest wobble in her voice, the slightest hint of fear. That was good. The Deep Roads were supposed to be feared. The bodyguard bowed, then took her place at her side.

"You chose this. Remember that," Harmony warned.

The gate sealed shut with a resounding clang and the lights from the keep's cellar vanished, leaving just Nathaniel's torch to guide them. Without another word she spun around and stormed into the darkness. She didn't need to look back to know that the others had fallen in line behind her.

* * *

_~ The night before her first descent into Orzamarr and the Deep Roads. The view from the Frostback Mountains was spectacular. The pass glowed white with freshly fallen snow and the stars above shone brighter than any she had seen before. _

_Harmony and Alistair were both on watch, sitting back-to-back on a snow-dusted rock at the edge of camp, rubbing their hands together to keep warm, breath clouding before their eyes. _

_"I wanted to tell you how much I enjoy your company," she confessed to him. Her cheeks flushed as she spoke the words and she felt glad that he couldn't see her turning crimson in the starlight. _

_"You know, I was just thinking the same thing." The words made her heart flutter. "Given the circumstances, things could have been so much worse. I'm so grateful that you're you, instead of... some other Grey Warden."_

_Harmony looked up and smiled hopefully into the night sky. _

_"Umm... that sounded better in my head," he continued shyly. "I just mean to say that I can't imagine having done this without you."_

_"I feel the same way." In truth, every moment spent alone with her fellow warden made their situation seem a little less bleak. _

_"Now we just need to be rid of that pesky archdemon, and everything will be back to normal, right?" he chuckled._

_Harmony gazed off into the distance and realized that she had no idea what normal was anymore. Her world had been torn to shreds by the blight and by men seeking to profit from its chaos. Perhaps after all of this, normal might mean getting to be by Alistair's side and not having to fight anymore. Peace. That wouldn't be so bad. ~_

* * *

As she marched through the Deep Roads, Queen Harmony came to the conclusion that perhaps all this struggle was her life's own version of normalcy. Perhaps peace was just the strange moments in between.


	4. Rolling in the Deep

**Chapter Four – Rolling in the Deep**

The terrifying silence of the Deep Roads. Every journey there felt the same. Nobody speaks in a place where the slightest sound can be their only warning.

The faintest trickle of water, the lowest creaking off in the darkness, even a pebble skittering across the ground was enough to set everyone on edge. Nathaniel kept his bow strung and slung over one arm. Oghren's battleaxe rested on his shoulder. She and Zevran kept reaching back to check on their daggers. Ellin was even more skittish than the rest of them, but that was understandable for her first time below.

These tunnels were less stable than the roads out of Orzamarr. Sometimes the earth would shift and it became impossible not to imagine being buried in rubble. Barely a soul knew where they were, Harmony realised. A bitter thought mocked her; if she was crushed to death, at least it might give Alistair a new mystery to solve when he was done searching for Maric.

It was almost worse that nothing came from the shadows to bother them. Three days and they had seen no darkspawn, spiders or stalkers. Even the nugs were scarce. The longer it went on, the more tense Harmony became. She didn't trust the Deep Roads. The moment you thought you were safe was usually when some nightmarish creature appeared.

When it was time to rest they kept watch in pairs; that was an old warden rule. A person alone saw tricks in the shadows, got the jitters over nothing. Two together could talk and stay calm. At least that was the plan.

"You're poor company, you know that?" Nathaniel said with a faint smile.

Harmony realised she'd been staring off into space, drifting out of their conversation like a wisp on the breeze. She suspected her friends pulled straws in secret to decide who should sit up with the moping queen. Poor unlucky Nathaniel.

Up top there had been travel arrangements and bandits and warden duties to keep her busy. Here in the darkness she could only walk and think. Anger and confusion warred with overwhelming concern for her husband, and sank her into a deep melancholy.

"I forget what I am when I'm topside. Down here it all comes back. This is the place I'll return when the dreams call me."

Nathaniel let out an uneasy breath. It was the same for him, and not a comfortable subject. "You're still young to fear your Calling."

He stoked the fire. Orange embers sparked and rose into the air. It had taken them a while to find a place with a noticeable draft. Drafts were good. Drafts meant the air vents the dwarves had built were still working. They kept the fire small all the same, not wanting to risk losing breathable air.

Harmony found herself staring into the flames. "They say those of us who have our joining during a blight get the Calling sooner. Alistair came just before. You, Oghren and the others came just after. In the middle there's me, and I was supposed to die with the archdemon."

"I'd still be a pariah if you'd died."

"Or the seneschal might have hanged you."

Nathaniel almost seemed to laugh at the bleak observation. "You're broody in the Deep Roads." Coming from him, that was really saying something.

* * *

_~ Harmony was silent for hours after they left the dead trenches. Seeing the death that awaited her should she even survive the blight was the most harrowing experience of her life. That place would be her tomb someday. She would die alone in the darkness. No wonder the Wardens kept their order so secret. Who would ever volunteer for this life?_

_When they eventually stopped to rest, Alistair came to sit beside her. He could tell she was upset._

_"Here, look at this," he held his hand out to her. To her surprise his fingers were wrapped around a single red rose. It was the last thing she expected to see in the Deep Roads. The colour seemed so vibrant against the backdrop of stone and shadows. She didn't think anything could look so red. _

_Alistair bit his lip; she could tell he was nervous. "I picked it in Lothering. I remember thinking, 'How could something so beautiful exist in a place with so much despair and ugliness?' I probably should have left it alone, but I couldn't. The darkspawn would come and their taint would just destroy it. So I've had it ever since."_

_"Why are you telling me this?" she asked. _

_He looked at his fingers and fidgeted with the flower. "I thought that I might… give it to you, actually. In a lot of ways, I think the same thing when I look at you."_

_"Alistair…" She tried to say more but her breath caught in her throat._

_"I was just thinking, you've had none of the good experiences of being a grey warden since your Joining. It's all been death and fighting and tragedy. I thought maybe I could say something. Tell you what a rare and wonderful thing you are to find amidst all this… darkness."_

_Their eyes met. It felt like they should kiss, but she couldn't. Not in that place. Not while her skin was still crawling from the sight of the broodmother. _

_"I feel the same way about you," she managed to say._

_He pressed the rose into her hand and smiled. "I'm glad you like it. Now if we could move on past this awkward embarrassing stage and get right to the steamy bits, I'd appreciate it," he jested. _

_"I'll drink to that!" Oghren cheered at the top of his lungs. _

_They remembered that they weren't exactly alone. She couldn't help but giggle at Alistair's mortified expression. Turning nearly as scarlet as the rose, he mumbled, "I'll be standing over here until the blushing stops. Just to be uhh… safe. You know how it is." ~_

* * *

A new day. Topside the sun would have risen, and Harmony would have stared up at it and felt that things weren't quite so dire. There was hope to be found in a new dawn. But not in the Deep Roads. Here you just had to carry on, just had to keep walking.

Nathaniel drew to a sudden halt. "Do you feel that?"

Everyone stopped. Harmony shut her eyes and reached out with the part of her mind that sensed when darkspawn were near. "I feel something, but it's faint."

Soon the signs of darkspawn presence began to show. An evil stench was in the air. An oily filth lined the walls. It didn't take being a warden to feel the corruption all around them. The place was wrong in all too familiar a way.

They drew their weapons and rounded the corner. This part of the tunnel was still lit by the ancient lava flows that the dwarves had directed through it, so it was easy to see the darkspawn corpses that lined the floor.

"These died recently, they're barely stiff," Nathaniel observed, giving a dead genlock a cautious tap on the arm.

Oghren crouched down beside one. "Aye, and this one's had a sodding axe through his face."

"Stay alert," Ellin warned, as if their journey had been a pleasant stroll until this point.

The tunnel led opened out into a wide cavern, and up ahead were the sounds of clashing steel and angry grunting.

"Okay, even I feel it now," Oghren grunted. The other wardens nodded. It was unmistakable. There were living darkspawn up ahead. They broke into a run.

There were a few old dwarven buildings, mostly rubble now, arranged in a circle around a clearing. A statue of one of the paragons with a hammer raised over his head stood in the centre. And at the statue's feet was a lone dwarf battling darkspawn for survival.

A lone dwarf named Sigrun.

She looked exhausted, ready to drop any moment. One arm hung limp at her side while the other slashed furiously at two genlocks that were rushing her. More darkspawn were charging in from the connecting tunnels. Their fellow warden was in trouble.

Without a moment's pause, Harmony barked out her orders. "Nathaniel, stay back and pick off any that get near her. Oghren, Ellin, I want you to charge in. Stay sharp, don't let them surround you. Zevran, you head right, I'll head left. Let's try and flank as best we can. Use your flasks as a distraction and fall back if you get overwhelmed. Understood?"

Oghren rolled his shoulders until the joints cracked. Then he roared, "Let's bust some faces!" and charged in. Ellin nodded to Harmony and followed after the dwarf.

They'd come just in time. As the genlocks turned to meet the two charging warriors, Sigrun stumbled backwards and slumped to the ground. Darkspawn reinforcements streamed in, and in a matter of seconds their party was outnumbered three to one.

Harmony kept to the shadows at the edge of the cavern to sneak around the fray. She launched herself into the thick of things just in time to head off three hurlock grunts that had decided to pick on the injured dwarf girl.

She kicked one of them in the back of the knee. It stumbled and made the mistake of turning to see what was behind it. Sigrun's axe caught it in the neck and it toppled. Now the other two stepped towards Harmony and grinned ungodly smiles that stretched almost from one ear to the other.

"Behind you!" Sigrun shrieked.

Harmony turned just in time to see another dawkspawn emerge from behind some rocks. It wore a horned helmet and carried a battleaxe. The second she laid eyes on it she knew it was an alpha. As it closed in on her, she realised that she'd failed to follow her own advice about not getting surrounded.

Penned in, she lunged forward as if about to slash at the alpha, then spun on her heels and sank her blade into the throat of the grunt behind her instead.

She knew the alpha would take a swing at her from behind, and was able to duck out of its path. She wasn't quick enough though to dodge the second grunt as it thrust a dagger into her leg. A pained gasp escaped her lips. Darkspawn weapons were twisted and cruel, she could feel already that the jagged blade lodged in her thigh would cause as much damage again when it was pulled out.

The grunt was about to follow through with a longsword strike, when one of Nathaniel's arrows caught it between the eyes. It fell to its knees.

Now there was only the alpha.

She crossed her daggers above her head just in time to catch the handle of the battleaxe as it swung down at her. They stood there for a moment, weapons locked. The darkspawn roared in her face and the stench of its breath made her eyes water. Her injured leg buckled beneath her, and there was little she could do as she was shoved onto her back.

One dagger flew from her grasp as she thudded into the dust. Her opponent crunched a boot down onto her hand and forced her fingers to uncurl from the hilt of her second blade. A kick sent it skittering from her reach.

The alpha took a step back and lifted the axe above its head, ready to push all of its strength into a final blow. Harmony was about to die.

Frantically she kicked out with both feet and struck the alpha in the shins. The agony of moving her stabbed leg made her ears ring, but the timing was perfect. Now the darkspawn was falling towards her.

She screamed as she ripped the blade from her leg and thrust it up just in time to catch the creature in the chest. A fatal blow. The axe's edge struck the dirt beside her head, far too close for comfort. The alpha let out a strangled gurgle and died on top of her.

There was a moment where all Harmony could do was lie still and let the air back into her emptied lungs. As soon as she was able to, she crawled out from beneath the dead darkspawn. She scarcely had any fight left in her, but she limped over to Sigrun. She stood over her friend, ready to protect her with her life if she had to.

But Harmony didn't have to worry. All that was left to do was watch as Ellin cleaved a genlock in half with her greatsword. In a matter of seconds her friends had dispatched the last of them. She breathed a sigh of relief and sank down beside Sigrun.

"Are you all right?" the dwarf asked her.

Harmony laughed in spite of the pain. "I'm supposed to ask you that."

"A few scrapes and bruises," she answered with a shrug.

Harmony clamped a hand to her wound and pressed down to try and stop the bleeding. Then she leaned in and took a closer look at the arm that hung limp at the dwarf's side. "Arms don't bend that way, Sigrun. Yours is broken."

Sigrun just rolled her eyes. "I'm supposed to be dead. You can't count on darkspawn for anything!"

There was a great trail of blood from the dead hurlock alpha to where Harmony sat. At first she didn't realise it was all hers. Her head was swimming, she felt sleepy and nauseous and light-headed all at once. She didn't even notice her eyes were closing.

"Hey sleepyhead, stay with me," Sigrun urged. But it was no use. Harmony was already slipping away into a dream.

* * *

_~ No darkspawn about, no bandits, no assassins. The sun seemed to shine brighter than ever now that they were out of the Deep Roads, and Harmony found herself in a shy little dance with her fellow grey warden as they walked. _

_She could barely keep her eyes off him. Try as she might to stay focused, her gaze kept drifting back to Alistair's chiselled jaw and honey coloured hair. Sometimes she would look to find him staring back at her. Sometimes their eyes would linger too long, and Harmony would have to blush and turn away. _

_The wardens probably had rules about romance. Alistair would know, but it seemed like asking would be… too forward. Maybe any moment now he'd say they had to stop. He'd crush her by saying it wasn't proper. She cautioned herself about becoming too smitten, but inwardly she knew it was too late. She was falling for him. _

_They crested a hill and the village of Redcliffe came into view. It was a beautiful sight, waterfalls tumbling down into Lake Calenhad, a maze of wharves stretching out from the houses and the castle looming above it all. _

_ Alistair pulled her aside from the others. "Look, can we talk for a moment?" he asked seriously. "I need to tell you something I probably should have told you earlier." _

_ Harmony felt her panicked heart skip a beat. ~_

* * *

Her eyes opened slowly. For a terrifying moment she forgot where she was, then the pain in her thigh brought it all back. Now she was lying on her bedroll beside a campfire. Her hand wandered down beneath her blanket to touch her leg and find that someone had wrapped it for her.

Hushed voices were speaking together. It only took a moment for her to hear her name and realise that she was the topic of discussion.

"She's barely said a word the last few days. I think it's just hitting her that he's gone." Nathaniel's voice.

Not everyone was awake. In the corner of her eye she could see Ellin flat on her back with her arms crossed over her chest. Somewhere in the background was a gurgling snore that could belong to no one but Oghren. But the other three, they were deep in discussion. She lay still and kept her breath steady so they wouldn't notice her.

"And he just left her a note? That's cold," she heard Sigrun say.

Cautiously, she stole a peek at the friend they had rescued. Someone had fashioned a dagger into a splint for the dwarf's broken arm. There was some colour back in her cheeks and her cuts had been cleaned up. They had saved her.

"Did he say anything to you, Zevran? Did they have a fight?" she heard Nathaniel ask.

"All he says is that he searches for his father," she could almost hear the elf shrugging.

"By all accounts, Maric is dead," said Nathaniel.

"An excuse to run off then. Could there be another woman?" Sigrun asked. "What about this Rivaini captain?"

"Isabela? Not the sort to refuse a tumble, but neither would she sink her claws into someone else's man," Zevran assured them. "Not unless encouraged, but Alistair is hardly the type."

Sigrun snorted at that. "He's a man. With man parts."

"Have you such a low opinion of all us men folk, my sweet dwarven friend?" Zevran gasped in mock outrage.

"Where I'm from, a low opinion of men is necessary," she answered. The words were bitter, but spoken so sweetly they didn't sound it.

"I asked him what his Queen thought of him running off with pirates," Zevran continued. "Do you know what he said? He said he didn't think she would miss him."

"Right. She just came down here for her health." A cynical laugh from Sigrun.

Nathaniel sighed. "Whatever's going on, I don't like the idea of him lying to Harmony."

"I'm not sure he lies," said Zevran. "Perhaps he has other reasons for leaving than just wanting to find his father, but I think his quest is true. Alistair is not a secretive man."

A tear rolled silently down the queen's cheek. Zevran had forgotten. Alistair did have a secretive side. They'd seen it before.

* * *

_~ Harmony found a quiet jetty and sat down with a whetstone to give her blades some much needed care. Her legs dangled down over the water and she stared out across Lake Calenhad, trying to wrap her head around the secret that had been kept from her. _

_In the corner of her eye she saw Alistair's cautious approach. He tiptoed as if worried a dagger might suddenly fly his way. "Just a hunch, but I'd swear you're upset with me."_

_It took her a while to respond, and for a moment there was no sound but the lapping of the water and the screech of stone sharpening metal. _

_"Why did you keep your birthright a secret?" she asked once the silence seemed to have dragged on too long. It was impossible to keep the hurt from her voice._

_"You never asked?"_

_That was it? After all they'd been through together, all they'd suffered and lost. Ostagar. The Circle Tower. The Deep Roads. All that time he hadn't said a word about his heritage, and now it was a joke? _

_She sheathed her daggers and got to her feet. "Cheap answer." ~_

* * *

Another day, another tunnel. Harmony's mood was soured by the knowledge that her injury was slowing everyone down. Ellin had offered to carry her but the indignity of it was more than she could bear. Instead she limped along in agony, spurred only by Nathaniel's promise that they were almost there.

"You know, it took me weeks to find that pocket of darkspawn," Sigrun was saying. "I mean, I'm grateful. But at some point you'll have to get out of the habit of delaying my glorious demise." She'd always been strangely perky for a dead girl.

Harmony smiled. "Never."

The tunnel started to smell less like darkspawn and more like seaweed. They hurried along, expecting to find their way out any moment. Instead they found a pool of water blocking their path, and beyond that, boulders and rubble piled high to the ceiling.

Nathaniel frowned, pulled out his map and studied it for several minutes. "I don't understand. We should be there by now." He sighed impatiently. A dead end? Harmony felt her heart sink.

Zevran crouched down at the water's edge, dipped her finger into the water and tasted it. "It's salty," he observed.

"You'd know," Oghren grunted. Sigrun shoved him with her good elbow.

"The sea must have collapsed the exit. We're lucky the whole place isn't flooded," said Ellin.

Harmony clenched her fists in determination. She'd come too far to be defeated by a bit of water. "I'll swim down and take a look. Maybe there's a way through," she declared.

"Allow me." Zevran was already half stripped by the time Harmony turned her head. The elf was in his element, knowing that all eyes were on his toned midriff. He turned to Ser Ellin and winked, a mischievous smile across his face. The woman blushed and looked away.

"You do know dwarves don't float, Commander?" Oghren muttered as Zevran waded out into the water and plunged beneath its surface.

"Especially ones with broken arms," added Sigrun.

"Let's see if there's a way out before we worry about that."

There was a pause that was far too long for Harmony's liking as they waited for Zevran to return. Just as she was wondering if she should dive in to check that he wasn't caught on a rock or being devoured by some sea monster, the Antivan finally surfaced.

He grinned sheepishly at Ellin. "Don't judge me too harshly, my sweet lady. The sea does cruel things to a man's nethers."

"What did you find?" Harmony asked, saving poor flustered Ellin from having to respond to the comment.

"You swim down and it gets a bit narrow, but after that there's no tunnel, just open sea and light. I think we could make the surface."

"Which could be the middle of the Waking Sea for all we know," Nathaniel warned.

"You said this should be Ostwick," Harmony reminded him.

"You would trust your life to my map-making skills?"

The queen shrugged. "Amaranthine is back that way. Anyone can turn around if they want, but I don't want to waste any more time. I need to take a chance, for Alistair."

In that moment, she recalled Zevran's words from the night before. _He didn't think she would miss him_. She realised that she didn't care why he had left or what he had kept from her. Alistair was her husband, and if he didn't know how much he meant to her, then it was time to show him once and for all. She wouldn't let anything hold her back.

There was a resounding clang that made Harmony jump. Oghren's breastplate had hit the ground and already he was struggling with his grieves. She smiled. In no time at all, her friends were all removing their armour.

"Some Deep Roads treasure hunter is going to hit the jackpot someday," Ellin mused. She drove her Greatsword into the dirt so that it stood upright on its own, and arranged her armour neatly at its base. Oghren did the same with his battleaxe and heavy plate. Soon, all of the things that were too heavy to bring were piled together.

Harmony wore a linen tunic and leggings. She kept her coin purse and the daggers strapped to her back, but everything else she left behind.

Together they waded into the water. Nathaniel and Zevran held onto Oghren, and Ellin and Harmony held on to Sigrun. One last deep breath, and they left the Deep Roads behind. They crawled on their stomachs beneath the rocks. Sigrun and Oghren needed a bit of shoving to get through, but in a moment they were clear.

A forest of seaweed stretched out before them. There were schools of fish and shining rock pools and ruined ships.

She wrapped her arms around Sigrun's waist and kicked up off the seabed. Ellin pulled the dwarf along by her good arm and together they headed for the surface. Urgent kicks propelled them toward the light, their lungs ready to burst.

Finally they breached. A desperate gasp of air. A blinding brilliant light. A moment's pause and then it all came into focus. Ships. Buildings. A harbour.

Ostwick.


	5. Queen of Hearts

**Chapter Five – Queen of Hearts**

"Three humans, two dwarves and an elf walk into a bar. Doesn't that sound like a fantastic start to a joke?" Sigrun asked, hovering her hands over the fire.

"Especially when it's the middle of winter and they're half naked and soaked to the bone." Harmony would have giggled but her teeth were still chattering.

There had been more than a few stares as her party stumbled into the dockside inn, bedraggled and dripping puddles on the floor. Harmony had slid a great deal of coin across the bar and asked the man to keep the fireplace hot and the drinks coming.

Nathaniel had borrowed a shirt from the inn's lost and found box and gone out into the city to see about getting a ship. Now there was nothing to do but get warm and wait for news.

A serving girl arriving with bowls of hot stew brought Harmony and Sigrun back to their table.

"Those two were always idiots when it came to each other," Oghren was saying to Ellin and Zevran. "The man gave her a sodding flower and then for weeks she was all, _'I wonder if he likes me…'_"

Harmony rolled her eyes. "Because you and Felsi had such a smooth courtship." She stole a sip of Ellin's drink and then sat down beside the dwarf.

"I wanted her to grease my bronto and I sodding well came out and said it, didn't I? No confusion there."

Ellin clasped a hand to her mouth. "I think I just threw up a little bit."

"That happens a lot around him," Zevran chuckled. "It's a sign you need to drink more."

Without another word, they were digging into the food. After days of stale rations and the odd bit of nug stew, nobody was willing to stand on ceremony over a good feed. They weren't even half way through it by the time Nathaniel returned.

"We've found a silk merchant willing to take on passengers, but he leaves in two hours and says he only has room for four," Nathaniel reported. He sat down next to Sigrun and stole a chunk of bread from her bowl. Harmony signalled the serving girl for another bowl.

"So two of us have to stay behind in Ostwick?" Ellin surmised.

Oghren was quick to yell, "Not it!" loud enough to make the other customers stare.

Nathaniel laughed. "I think Sigrun needs to let that arm heal and Oghren has a family that needs him. I've already found a ship to take them both back to Amaranthine. That is… if you agree, Warden Commander?" he asked Harmony.

Things moved quickly after that. There was just enough time to buy some supplies before their ship was to sail. Harmony was getting low on funds by the time they had everything they needed: new travel clothes, a new bowstring for Nathaniel, a sword for Ellin as well as a good supply of potions, poisons and flasks. It all added up.

Oghren followed them around the market stalls and argued incessantly about being left behind, but Harmony could only agree with Nathaniel's decision. Little Mona would only have her father around for so many years before the Calling took him. She didn't want to risk cutting that time short over something that wasn't even a warden problem.

He was still grumbling about it as he and Sigrun came to the jetty to see them off. Harmony just smiled warmly, leaned in and planted a kiss on his cheek. He fell silent and touched a hand to the spot where her lips had touched him. She thought for a moment she had made him understand, but instead he burped and said, "Sorry warden, you're too tall and I'm spoken for."

Sigrun cringed. "Do you have to leave me with him?"

"You had your chance as well, woman," he grunted at her.

Nathaniel patted Sigrun on the shoulder. "You'll be back in Amaranthine before you know it. And you'd better still be there when I get back, my friend. We happen to need you."

"Oh, all right," she promised. "But for you and Harmony. Not for Ser Burps-a-lot."

"Ready to cast off. All aboard!" a voice called from the ship in a thick Orlesian accent. At that, Harmony, Nathaniel, Zevran and Ellin sprang up the gangplank and waved goodbye to their friends.

"You handle grey warden business very well, Nathaniel," Harmony told him as Ostwick's docks shrank into the distance.

Nathaniel kept staring back towards the comrades they'd left behind. "I'm sorry if I've been stepping on your toes."

"Stepping on my toes?" Harmony laughed. "Saving my arse, more like. I think when we get back to Ferelden, it's time for you to take over as Warden Commander. You've earned it. And your recruits deserve a full-time commander."

"That's an honour, but…" Nathaniel looked unsure, like he was about to argue with the promotion, but before he could say anything, Ellin shoved past them so that she could reach the railing in time to throw up over the side.

"Are you all right?" Harmony asked, once the dreadful noise of it came to an end.

Ellin didn't answer, instead she grabbed Nathaniel by the tunic and pulled him in close. "Please," she rasped, "I don't sail well. You have to take my place and guard the queen." She let go of him and returned to retching over the side.

"Today's just full of promotions isn't it?" Nathaniel smiled weakly.

Harmony found Zevran sitting on the railing at the prow of the ship, looking out at the waters ahead of them. She was no sailor but it seemed like they had the wind in their favour and were setting a good pace.

"Will we be able to catch up to Isabela's ship on this?" she asked him.

He broke into a typical Zevran chuckle. "My dear, nothing short of a Qunari dreadnaught could catch that ship. This is a trading vessel, fat with silks."

Her face fell and she sank down beside him. It had seemed like everything would fall into place once they were on their way to Antiva. Now she realised they had no clue where to look once they reached that foreign land. Alistair could be anywhere by then. How far across the world would she need to chase him?

"Come now, don't lose hope," Zevran gave her a playful shove. "Alistair will reach Antiva City before you, it's true. But we'll find him. The man barely knows up from down without you. Doubtless he already needs rescuing from some crow prison or deadly temptress. We'll get you there in time to save your handsome Prince. What kind of adventure would it be if we did not?"

* * *

Whatever kind of adventure it was, it took a turn for the dull once they were out on the open sea. The four of them shared a cramped cabin, their bunks so short that they each had to tuck their legs in to fit properly.

Their Orlesian hosts thought it civilised to wear heavy colognes to cover the usual stink of sweat and feet that all ships carry. The result was a pungent mess of smells that only aggravated Ellin's seasickness. Most days she just hid in their cabin.

Nathaniel, Harmony and Zevran spent a lot of time playing Wicked Grace with a dog-eared pack of cards Zevran had 'borrowed' from their hosts. It would have been more fun, but they had little to gamble with. Harmony lost most of the hands anyway; Zevran was too good at reading her and Nathaniel's face gave nothing away.

In the evenings when things were quiet out on deck she would spend her time training under the stars. Her body had been letting her down lately. A scrap with bandits had exhausted her. A measly band of darkspawn had almost managed to take her life. Now the stab wound in her leg forced her to limp when she walked. Whatever awaited them in Antiva, she needed her strength to face it.

"You're certainly getting faster, I feel queasy now when you spin around," Ellin muttered. It was two weeks since they'd left Ostwick and Harmony had ordered her bodyguard to come outside and get some air while she practised.

"Don't watch me. Keep your eyes on the horizon. You'll feel better," Harmony promised. She sheathed her daggers and began on her stretches.

Ellin swivelled on the barrel she was perched on and looked out to sea. "Couple of ships there. Are we near a port?"

"We're not far from Bastion." Harmony looked up and followed Ellin's gaze. In the haze of twilight it was hard to tell the sea from the sky, but where the two seemed to merge there were indeed a pair of boats. "You've sharp eyes. I didn't see anything until you pointed them out."

Ellin squinted at the distant ships. "Does a skull flag mean what I think it means?"

The Second Mate was passing by at that moment. He stopped to see what they were looking at and said, "You've the eyes of a kestrel, to find two Raider vessels in this light."

"Should we be worried? Can we outrun them?" Harmony asked urgently.

The Mate laughed in a very smug, orlesian sort of way. "We've paid them, they let us be. It's nothing to worry over." At that reassurance, Harmony ignored the ships and continued her training.

But in the night they were woken by a ringing bell. Through the ceiling of their cabin came the sounds of urgent orders being bellowed and frantic sailors rushing to obey them. She, Nathaniel and Zevran climbed out of their bunks to investigate, leaving Ellin to sleep.

Out in the cold night air the problem became clear. The two Raider ships were in their midst, and too close for comfort. One had split apart from the other, and come about to flank the little Orlesian trader.

"Oh _Maldición, _not him_…_" she heard Zevran whisper in terror once they could see who was coming. His eyes were wide like a startled deer.

The captain marched up to them and smacked Nathaniel across the back of the head. "What have you brought on my ship, boy?" he demanded crossly. "Raiders don't bother us. If they're here it's for something you've got."

Nathaniel started trying to explain that they weren't smuggling anything, when Zevran piped up. "You see the skull flag? There's a black feather mask over the eyes. Those aren't simple Raiders."

At first the captain seemed outraged to be spoken to by an elf, but then took a moment to study the flag and seemed to conclude that Zevran was right. "We've no weapons and we don't like you turnips much," he barked. "If it's you the Crows want, you'll get no protection from us." Then he stomped back to the helm, muttering curses under his breath.

"Zev? What's wrong? Who's coming?" Harmony asked.

Zevran's glare stayed fixed on the ship to their port side. "Sol Castana. Master assassin. Secret weapon of the Crows." His voice was barely more than a frightened whisper.

"Are we in trouble?" she asked him.

He grabbed her by the shoulders. "Listen to me. If you get yourself killed over this, I will never forgive you," he shook her furiously as he said it. There was a fierceness there that Harmony had never seen in him before. "Only try to fight him if he threatens you. And fight like an Antivan. There's no room for Fereldan honour here."

She nodded to him and ran below to fetch her blades. She considered waking Ellin to warn of the arriving Crows, but decided against it. The woman had barely held down a meal since leaving Ostwick, she was weakened and unlikely to be much use in a fight. Better to leave her safe out of the way.

Back up top, the Raider ships had arrived. Gangplanks were being prepared on both sides to allow them to board. The crew of the Orlesian trader were all assembled on deck, all holding their hands above their heads in surrender.

Nathaniel moved beside Harmony, jaw clenched tightly, bow slung over one shoulder.

"Where did Zevran go?" she asked, realising their friend was no longer on the deck.

"He ran off somewhere. I only turned my head for a moment," Nathaniel answered.

"Well where could he…"

Harmony was cut off as armed men began to file onto the deck from either side. They lined up along both the port and starboard railings without a word. They were fearsomely huge, about as qunari-shaped as humans could be. Most were grinning, most had menace in their eyes.

An older man with silvery hair swept back into a ponytail stepped onto the deck and stood in front of the crowd of Orlesians. "Who is the captain?" he asked, his Antivan accent almost too thick to be understood.

The fat Orlesian captain looked like he wished he could be anyone else as he stepped forward timidly.

The older man stood aside and someone else appeared on the deck of the trading ship. He was everything that came to Harmony's mind when she thought of Antiva: golden skin, dark hair and an aura of danger. Instantly she knew she must be looking Sol Castana.

"Do not worry, _Capitán_. It's only your passengers that interest me," Sol purred, giving the man an overly familiar pat on the cheek.

The captain spun around and pointed a trembling finger at Nathaniel and Harmony. "These two doglords came aboard in Ostwick. There's another wench sick down below. They have an elf too, an Antivan one. He's hiding someplace."

Sol looked up and noticed Harmony. He eyed her slowly from head to toe, making no effort to be subtle as his gaze lingered on her breasts and at her hips.

"This elf. Let me guess…" he stepped forward slowly, eyes locked on Harmony now. "Blonde. Charming. Tattoo across the face. Handsome, if you like that sort of thing…"

He reached out to touch the Queen of Ferelden on the cheek, and it was in that moment that a knife flew his way. He snatched it out of the air just a split-second before it would have struck him in the skull. A dangerous smile spread across his face.

Harmony looked up to see the outline of Zevran perched on the yardarm, barely visible in the darkness.

"Hello Zevran," Sol called up to him. He let the knife drop to the deck. "A little bird told me you took ship in Ostwick. Come down, let's talk like civilised men." Sol was answered with two more throwing knives. He dodged them so gracefully it was as if he danced out of their path.

"No?" he called up. "Would it change your mind if one of your Fereldan friends took a little swim?"

One of the qunari-sized Antivans grabbed Nathaniel by the arms and shuffled him over to the railing. He struggled against it, but wasn't strong enough to free himself.

At that, Zevran leapt down onto the deck, crouching into his landing. He drew his daggers and set them down in front of him before rising, hands spread apart to show he was unarmed. "Spare me the childish threats, Sol. I'll talk," he said. Two of Sol's men seized him then, twisting his arms behind his back to hold him still.

"Forgive the hostility, Zevran, but after what you did to Guildmaster Cosimo…"

"Should I spare this one, master?" asked the one holding Nathaniel.

"He is of no notice," Sol made a dismissive gesture with his hand and his man went to shove Nathaniel over the railing.

"No!" Harmony shrieked. She pulled out a knife of her own and threw it at the man trying to murder her friend. It grazed his face. He touched a hand to his bleeding cheek and laughed. Nathaniel took his chance to scurry out of reach.

"You missed," Sol's man chuckled.

Harmony shook her head. Then the man's smile fell. In an instant he turned deathly pale and crumpled to his knees.

"_Tóxico..._" he gasped.

_Fight like an Antivan_, Zevran had said. Tipping her blades with poison had seemed like a good start. She turned to Sol, "There's an antidote. He can have it if you promise not to hurt anyone."

Sol grinned like a cat letting a mouse run over its paws. He stepped toward Harmony and leaned in too close for comfort. "And who might you be, pretty thing?"

Harmony's eyes darted over to the poisoned Antivan who now writhed in agony on the deck. Did Sol not care that his own man was dying?

"I'm nobody," she answered. "Just a friend of Zevran's."

Sol took her hands in his and lifted them to his face like he was going to kiss them. Then his eyes fell to the rings she was wearing and he paused. "Bacillio?" he called, beckoning the older man forward.

Bacillio scurried in close and took Harmony's hands in his. He looked first to the family signet ring on her right hand. "_Corona di_ _Alloro_, _familia_ Cousland," he muttered to Sol. Then he looked to the two mabari etched into her wedding band. "_Cani di guerra_, _familia reale_ Ferelden."

Over their shoulders, the poisoned man let out an agonized cry and fell still. Neither of them seemed to notice.

Sol's grin widened, revealing several gold-capped teeth. "You're much more than you let on, my sweet lady. Let us go somewhere more private, you, Zevran and I. Then you can tell me how it is you use our own poisons against us."

* * *

_~ "I was wondering if you might… teach me to be an assassin." _

_The thought seemed to take Zevran by surprise. It probably wasn't what he'd expected when she'd asked him to take a stroll with her in private. But they were returning from the Circle Tower with mages to help the Arl's possessed son. Their camp was far too crowded for serious conversations like this one. _

_"Oh, certainly I could. But I won't. I swore to the crows that the things they taught me were to remain a secret. And while, yes, they are already angry at me… I'd rather not push things. You see?"_

_"And what if I ordered you to do it?" It didn't seem the most diplomatic thing to say, but the man did owe Harmony his life, after all. _

_"You would order me to betray my solemn oaths?" he gasped in mock outrage. "Come now, you don't need this training. You seem to be able to slay things just by staring at them hard enough."_

_Harmony realised she had failed to win him over and her face sank. It wasn't until she saw Zevran's face soften that she realised how much her eyes betrayed her sorrow. She turned away; she wanted his help, not his pity._

_"I presume you have a target in mind?" she heard him say. "A monster indeed to have marred such a pretty face with such a sour expression."_

_"Rendon Howe. He's the Arl of Amaranthine. And Denerim. Maker, he's probably calling himself the Teyrn of Highever by now."_

_Zevran smiled as if a piece of a puzzle had just slotted into place. "An advisor to Teyrn Loghain," he said. "I've met the fellow. What's he to you?"_

_"The man who butchered my family," she seethed. The pain felt raw again, like an old wound picked open._

_"When you put it like that… I suppose I could share some tricks of the trade."_

_"I'd be grateful, Zevran," she told him, managing a smile. _

_The elf raised an eyebrow at that. "And just how grateful, exactly?" He stepped towards her, a mischievous grin already spreading across his face. _

_Something swept over Harmony in that moment. She grabbed him by the collar of his tunic and pulled him in close until their lips were touching. His eyes widened in surprise, but then he relaxed into the kiss. His calloused hands cupped her face at first. Then they swept through her hair. Then they were at her back, moving downwards. _

_His lips were strong, but gentle, and their caress made her knees weak. _

_He smelled like leather and summer rain. ~_

* * *

Harmony was taken to one of the Antivan ships, ushered into a cabin and locked inside. It was almost an hour before that old man, Bacillio, appeared with a dress draped over one arm.

"You change. I turn around," he instructed, handing her the gown. Since she wasn't entirely sure if she was a prisoner or a guest, it seemed best to do as she was told.

White fabric billowed out from a jewelled collar that fastened tightly around her throat. The dress left her back exposed, it felt more like being wrapped in a bedsheet than being properly dressed.

Bacillio pulled her hair from its ponytail and let it cascade loose over one shoulder instead. She was given satin slippers to wear in place of her leather boots. She was sure they would be spoiled the moment she set foot on the damp of the ship's deck, but didn't bother explaining it to the Antivan.

When Bacillio led her into Sol's cabin, the man set down his goblet of wine and stood to greet her with a flourishing bow. Zevran was by the window. He glanced over his shoulder briefly, a rueful look in his eyes. Then he went back to staring out to sea.

"_Si_. Now you look like a Queen," Sol told her. "When first we met I mistook you for some common wench here for Zevran's amusement."

"Charming." Harmony held her head high, though in that gown she felt more like a concubine than a monarch.

"This is how one of your station should dress. Beauty enough to win a nation's heart. A goddess atop a pedestal, out of the reach of filthy, common hands." He reached out to touch a hand to her face but she grabbed him firmly by the wrist.

"Not as out of reach as I'd like," she snapped.

Zevran said something to him in Antivan then. She didn't understand the words, but they were clipped and curt. It sounded like a warning or a threat. Whatever it was, it made Sol take step back from her, which made her more comfortable.

"So Fereldan…" the man sighed. "To business, then. Zevran and the Crows have at long last come to an understanding. Since our interests are aligned with yours, I thought you might like to hear of the arrangement."

Arrangement? Harmony didn't like the sound of that. "Zevran?"

Her elven friend turned around, but his gaze didn't meet hers. "The man who sent me to Ferelden was Prince Claudio Valisti. He is the Third Talon of the Crows, a very important man. He asked me to show Alistair proof that Maric had at one time been held prisoner in Antiva."

"Your husband caused quite the stir when he and his friends stormed our prison looking for his father," Sol added.

"Did they find Maric?" she asked.

Zevran shook his head. "If you believe the records, a witch freed Maric years ago."

Sol rolled his eyes at that. "Your King has stormed off into the Tellari swamps to chase that tall tale. A fool's errand. Not a place many return from. And now Prince Claudio has followed in after, not to be seen again."

"So what? You're too cowardly to go and look for them yourself?" Harmony couldn't help but smirk at the brief flash of anger on Sol's face as she said that.

"There's a fine line between bravery and recklessness, sweet lady," he said, veneer of calm returning in an instant.

"I have volunteered to search for Claudio and Alistair," said Zevran.

Something churned in Harmony's gut. Zevran working for the Crows didn't sit right with her. Not at all.

"We tire of Zevran's war on us," said Sol. "If he can travel to the swamps and find Claudio without getting himself killed, we will forgive his transgressions and welcome him back into the fold as a Talon of the Crows."

"That's quite an offer." Now it was Harmony's turn to hide her anger. Had all of this started just because Zevran wanted to win his way back into their good graces?

"If he comes out of there alive, he's proven he has the skill," Sol shrugged, as if it were normal for the Crows to let their assassins rejoin after eight years of rebellion.

Sol started to walk towards the door then. "Queen of hearts, my cabin is yours. We will fetch your friends aboard and get you safely to Antiva in a matter of days. You're welcome to go with Zevran to the Tellari swamps, or wait in Antiva City as an esteemed guest of the Crows. The choice is entirely yours. "

"I'll be going with Zevran," she said instantly, not taking her eyes off the friend she thought she knew better than this.

"As you wish. A pleasant evening to the both of you." Sol bowed again and let himself out of the room.

Once they were alone, Harmony slapped Zevran across the face with all the strength she could muster. The force of it jerked his head to one side. "After everything you've done to free yourself from these people?" she spat.

He didn't turn back to her, only touched his fingers to the handprint she had left on his cheek.

"This is a trap, Harmony," he told her softly. "Where Claudio and Alistair go, they dare not follow. If I die in that swamp then I'm out of their hair for good. If I succeed then every Crow cell Sol has control of will be waiting when I come out."

Harmony's palm was stinging now, but the guilt she felt for lashing out at him hurt more. "Sol is using your loyalty to me to make you do his dirty work?"

"A brilliant plan, no? He's tried for years to dispose of me." There was a bitter note of resentment in his tone, and she wasn't sure if it was aimed at her or at himself.

"Zevran, I'm sorry. I thought for a minute you really wanted to be a…"

"A Talon of the Crows?" he snorted. "I think I'd rather continue to be a thorn in the foot of this fat, greedy bird."

Finally he looked up at her, a smile on his face that made it seem like he'd entirely forgotten the danger they were in.

"You look like an Antivan Princess," he smirked, noticing the outfit Bacillio had made her wear.

She rolled her eyes. "I feel like an idiot."

The smile vanished again, and just as quickly he was serious Zevran once more. The Zevran that made Harmony nervous, because if even he wasn't smiling and joking then there must really be a problem.

"Will you ever say what it is that haunts you?" he asked.

"You mean aside from my husband running off?"

"You and I both know it's something more than that." It came of being an assassin, a good one at that. Zevran had always been attuned to people, always seen a great deal more than he let on. "Is it secret for the sake of Ferelden? Or just for the sake of your own heart?"

She swallowed. "There's no secret. I'm fine."

He snorted at the lie. "You're almost convincing when you're awake."

"When I'm awake?"

"You cry in your sleep, Harmony. I hear you every night. If you only told me why, perhaps I could…"

"There's nothing to tell. We just need to find Alistair and get everyone back home." Never mind that Alistair could already have died in a swamp and the Crows were lining up to murder Zevran if they even made it out alive.

"As you say," he sighed. She knew he was hurt, but it couldn't be helped.

* * *

_~ Did all Antivans kiss that way or was that thing with the tongue just a special trick of Zevran's? Either way, Harmony was swept away by it. She didn't even know how they ended up rolling over each other in the grass like that, but he was the one on top by the time they finally had to come up for air. _

_"Harmony…" Zevran said, his breath heavy. _

_"Don't stop," she whispered, stroking a finger along the ridge of his ear. She could feel his whole body trembling with delight at that simple gesture. For a moment he looked as if he were about to surrender to it and sink into another endless kiss, but something held him back. _

_He let out a heavy sigh, resting his forehead against hers. "Alistair cares for you. Do not settle for me because you believe he doesn't," he told her softly. _

_"Alistair has nothing to do with this," she argued, though she couldn't quite meet the assassin's gaze as she said it. _

_Zevran rolled off her. "Ah, my dear Grey Warden," he said, "Alistair is the entire reason for this. His lie of omission left you thinking you didn't matter to him, so you are out to prove that he does not matter to you either." _

_Harmony sat up and hugged her knees. The braids in her hair had come loose and one of the leather straps at her shoulder had come undone._

_A furious blush spread across her cheeks. She was suddenly so ashamed. Nice Cousland girls didn't go around kissing Antivans they barely knew. Nice Cousland girls didn't toy with people's hearts just because someone had hurt their feelings. _

_"I'm sorry, Zevran," she whispered, tears welling in her eyes. _

_He stroked a hand down her cheek. "Don't be, my sweet lady. This was a pleasant enough diversion. It will stay just between us. You've hurt no one."_

_"You're a good person," she told him, wishing she could think the same of herself._

_A sardonic smile. "In truth, I am a scoundrel. You are pure like a blanket of freshly fallen snow, I would like nothing better than to make the first footprint. But following you, it makes me want to try to be a good person." He jumped up, dusted himself off and held a hand out to her._

_"You're closer than you think," she told him as he helped her to her feet._

_Zevran flashed a wicked grin and it was suddenly as if it never happened. "Well, when you are married and have lots of children, you can name one of them after their uncle Zevran." _

_Together they laughed.~_

* * *

Harmony having children. Now there was a ridiculous notion…


	6. Silent No Longer

**Chapter Six – Silent No Longer**

Harmony had hoped for a chance to see Zevran's hometown as they passed, but their business was far upriver and there was no time to stop. The crowded outline of Antiva City had come and gone days ago.

Now she stood with Sol on the foredeck of the ship, staring ahead to where the river's black water blended into the darkness. The swamp ahead of them was alive with foreign sounds: hissing serpents, buzzing insects, strange birds and stranger reptiles.

"This is as far as the ship can go, and much further than my men wanted to sail. The ghost stories we Antivans grew up with all begin here." The lascivious smile was gone from Sol's face; the Tellari swamps seemed to put him in a sombre mood. "Last chance to turn back, Queen of Ferelden."

"_Hero_ of Ferelden," she corrected. "I'm not some vulnerable little princess who needs protecting."

He gave her a quizzical glance. "No? Those closest with you seem to disagree. Your King thought better of bringing you here. Your friends never let you out of their sight. I think all would prefer if you were safe with me."

Harmony snorted. "I doubt that anyone is truly safe with you, Sol Castana."

"Sad but true," he admitted with a sly chuckle. "We'll be watching, Queen of hearts. We'll be waiting. Luck be with you. I hope we meet again."

Harmony turned from him and said nothing. The feeling wasn't mutual.

* * *

Ellin and Nathaniel rowed the longboat while Zevran crouched in the front, holding their torch high above his head. They rowed as close to the river's edge as they could manage before the boat became stuck, then waded through the sludge until they were stood on the riverbank.

The wilds stretched out ahead of them, an untamed forest whose floor was knee deep with stagnant water. The trunks glowed green with algae. The air was so thick with insects they were like a mist.

Before they went any further, Harmony drew to a halt and said, "It's dangerous in there; we might not come out again. If we do make it back, there's still Sol's Crows to deal with. The safest thing for any of you right now would be to make a run for it and find your way back to Ferelden. I promise I'd understand if you did."

Ellin, Nathaniel and Zevran exchanged glances for a moment, and seemed to reach an unspoken consensus.

"You really ought to stop wasting your breath, Your Majesty," Ellin said. She marched ahead without another moment's thought. Nathaniel and Zevran followed on behind her.

Harmony watched them stride into danger on her behalf and smiled. Things would be all right. With friends like these on her side, how could they not be?

They clambered through the mire, clinging to overhead vines and overgrown roots. Wandering aimlessly through the dim light, silently praying away the predators of the swamps. Searching for anything unusual, anything that could give them a clue of Alistair's whereabouts.

"Look there!" Nathaniel pointed up to a corpse hanging from a nearby tree. It was abuzz with flies, nailed there by three arrows in its chest. Its rusting helm matched the ones that Sol's guards wore: a skull on the brow and a feather at the top.

"There too." Zevran nudged her and pointed to a poor sod rotting in the mud with an arrow through his neck.

In a few more steps Ellin spotted a third lifeless body. There was a trail of dead Antivans, in fact, and it led all the way back to a clearing where the land was actually somewhat dry. The feeling of solid earth beneath Harmony's feet felt like a luxury after just a few hours in the Tellari swamps.

There was a camp here, a big one. Abandoned now, by the look of the burnt out fire pit and the wildlife that had come to claim whatever food had been left behind. Several large tents stood in a circle, open flaps swaying in the breeze. Harmony nodded to the others and they spread out to investigate.

She moved slowly to look at the faces of the corpses scattered about, half convinced that any moment she would come across Alistair lying in the mud, vacant eyes staring up at the stars.

"They're all Crows," she eventually concluded. What was more, the kills all seemed to be from arrow wounds and dagger stabs. None of it seemed like Alistair's work.

"Do you see your friend Claudio here?" she asked Zevran.

"Not my friend," he corrected. "And no, none of these is him."

Ellin frowned. "Do you think the King might have…"

She was cut off by a monstrous roar. It was so loud that the night song of the swamp creatures ceased entirely. All creatures fell silent. Hands moved to hilts.

Dread dropped to the pit of Harmony's stomach like a boulder. She knew that sound.

Something stirred the wind and made the trees flail wildly. The clearing flooded with loose leaves. Her hair blew back from her face as she looked up to see.

A High Dragon had taken flight.

Its wings were so huge that it blacked out the stars as it passed overhead.

* * *

_~ It happened too fast to process. One moment she was at Alistair's side, daggers in hand, trying to seem fearless in the face of a monster so terrible that its roar seemed to make the sky shake. Cunning and speed had let her get in close enough to stab it several times in the belly and the neck. It had started to seem like they might be able to fight past it. _

_Then it seized her, and suddenly the ground seemed so far away. The world became a blur as it tossed her about like a rag doll. The snap of its jaw reduced her armour to ribbons. Its hot, smoky breath boiled her blood. Teeth like longswords ripped into her body with a pain so overwhelming that Harmony wished then and there for the dragon to swallow her down and end the suffering. _

_Without warning, it spat her out like a seed found in its teeth. Gracelessly she landed in a heap at its feet. She heard Alistair scream her name. Then the world faded from view. ~_

* * *

"I don't think it saw us," Ellin said once the trees fell still. She sounded unsure though, and kept her eyes fixed on the sky above them.

Just then, a rustling at the edge of the camp caught Nathaniel's attention and he disappeared into the bushes to chase after it. When he emerged a moment later, he had a prisoner in tow; an Antivan Crow, a living one.

The man let out a frightened whimper as Nathaniel dragged him back into the clearing and dropped him in a crumpled heap at Harmony's feet.

"Don't hurt me!" he shrieked. The man was emaciated. His teeth rattled in his skull as he shivered.

"The only one likely to hurt you is that dragon, so keep your voice down," Harmony told him. Her tone was careful. She wanted to put him at ease, but she didn't want to forget that he may have been brought here to hurt Alistair. "Where's Claudio?" she asked him.

The colour in man's cheeks drained away in an instant. "That's him there, what's left of him." He pointed across the clearing to a pile of ash and bone, topped with a caved-in skull.

"Who did that?" she asked, though she wasn't sure she wanted to know the answer.

The man's mouth gaped open, bottom lip quivering in fear. He looked like he was either about to burst into tears or bolt for the trees.

Zevran grabbed him by the collar and pulled him in close. "If you think you'll be safer going back to the Valisti estate to tell them what happened, you're mistaken. They'd kill you for failing to protect your master," he warned.

"You think I don't know that? " the Antivan quivered.

"We can help you out of this swamp. We can get you safely out of the country. You could be free of all this, start fresh," Harmony offered. "But you have to help us first."

The man held his hands up in surrender. "_Si_. I'll tell you everything I know." Zevran let go of him then and he sank to his knees.

"Why did you come here?" Harmony asked him.

He stared ahead blankly for a moment, then Zevran clenched a fist and leaned towards him. He swallowed and looked back to Harmony. "We were to follow the Fereldan King so that he could show us the way to the dragon's lair, then capture him. Claudio wanted us to kill the pirate queen too, but she got away. Then she came back with the witch and the dwarf and they butchered everyone and took the King away."

He paused and looked down at the ground in shame. "When I saw Isabela stab Claudio in the heart, I ran and hid in the bushes."

Alistair had escaped the Crows then? That was a relief, but they still knew nothing of what had brought him here, or why Claudio had followed.

"What did your master want with Alistair?" she asked.

"He asked the same, when we captured him. I was never told. Claudio had a patron, someone in Tevinter who would set him dangerous tasks. This was one of those, but that's all we were told."

"And how did he end up like that?" Harmony nodded to the pile of ashes.

The sight of Claudio's remains made the man shake. "The Witch of the Wilds."

"Witch of the Wilds?" Ellin repeated.

"Was it Morrigan? Flemeth?" Harmony asked. One had vanished and the other was supposed to be dead, but neither answer would surprise her.

Zevran stepped forward. "We have our own Witch of the Wilds in Antiva... Yavana."

"_Si_, Yavana," said the man. "She dragged Claudio back into this world and demanded the name of his patron; the name of the one who wanted your King. Claudio's skin burned away as he spoke it, he was in such agony. It seemed like such a small thing to go to so much trouble over."

"What was the name? Did you hear it?"

He nodded mutely.

"Say it!" Harmony urged.

"Aurelian Titus," he breathed.

* * *

_~ Brief patches of clarity… _

_ Coming down the mountain, cradled in Alistair's arms. His face deathly pale. Her blood soaking into his hands. His voice screaming for Wynne as their camp came into view. Sten gazing down at her shattered body and swallowing, looking the closest to panicked that she had ever seen._

_Wynne and Morrigan hovering over, flooding magic into her bones, urging her to live. _

_Closing her eyes and feeling the promise of peace in the darkness, if only she would let go. _

_But she couldn't let go. Not now. She couldn't leave Alistair alone against the blight..._

_Some time later she opened her eyes to a strange place. A four-poster bed, high in the towers of Castle Redcliffe. Alistair was sat beside her, holding her hand in his, face sick with worry. He released a long held breath at the sight of her eyes opening. _

_"I was so scared that I'd lost you." His voice was scarcely more than a whisper, like it was a secret he was frightened to tell. _

_It didn't matter what he'd kept from her, not anymore, not now she could see how much he cared. In that moment she made a silent wish. She wished for a future that was certain, for a destiny of her own choosing, for a life with Alistair. She managed a small smile. She managed to squeeze his hand._

_At that moment, Leliana appeared in the doorway. _

_"It worked! The ashes have worked. Arl Eamon is recovering," she reported. There was so much excitement in her voice over the miracle that had happened. "He wants to talk to you, Alistair."_

_"We did it," Alistair gasped. He let go of Harmony's hand and jumped to his feet. She could tell her was almost overcome with emotion at the news. _

_"You should go to him," she urged with a smile. _

_He nodded. He leaned in close and planted a kiss on her forehead. Then he followed Leliana out of the room._

_A bittersweet victory. Things would be different now. Arl Eamon would want to put Alistair forward as King, she knew that already. It was the only logical way to defeat their enemies in Denerim. She was going to lose him to Ferelden, and it would all be for the best._

_So much for wishes…~_

* * *

Gone.

Harmony crouched down beside the pile of ashes and broken bones.

Off in the distance, the High Dragon lifted its head to the sky and let out a blood-curdling howl.

"Maker's breath," Nathaniel whispered.

"She sounds furious. Do you think she's about to rampage?" Ellin asked quietly.

Maybe Harmony's sanity was ebbing away, but she heard the dragon and felt she understood it. There was terrible loss there. It was a song of anger and heartbreak. It was the sound a lonely soul makes when left behind. It was the cry of the deserted.

Unwilling to stand in that open space a moment longer, Claudio's man squealed in terror and fled for the shelter of the bushes. Nobody gave chase.

Zevran drew his blades ready to charge in at the monster. "This is going to be a tricky fight without a mage. But Ellin is built like a battering ram and you won't get better ranged support than Nathaniel. We'll manage it somehow," he assured them.

Harmony glanced up at her elven friend. "Put your daggers away, Zevran."

"You want to just walk away from such a creature?" He stared at her incredulously, a look in his eyes like he wasn't even sure he knew her anymore.

"If we can," she answered.

"Why? Because it's not _your_ people it's going to be eating?" His lip curled into a snarl. "I thought you were better than that."

Harmony released a heavy sigh, wishing more than anything that her friend would stop glaring so irately. "I didn't come all this way to die in a battle that I have no hope of winning."

"Who _are_ you?" he spat. "Where is the fearless grey warden who filled all of us with the courage to overcome an archdemon?"

_Broken, _Harmony wanted to say._ I'm sorry Zevran. _

"It's better to admit when you're outmatched," she heard herself say. "You taught me that."

He snorted. "Why not just admit that this is about far more than you've told us? Before Alistair left, he told me you'd been holed up in Highever for weeks and barely sent word."

"We had no word from you at Vigil's Keep either," Nathaniel added. He didn't seem to share Zevran's outrage, and the way his feet kicked at the mud made it clear he was uncomfortable. Yet he still spoke.

Ellin just stared her in the face and said nothing.

"My grey warden is faster than this," Zevran continued. "She's stronger. I know you haven't had so many darkspawn to fight these past few years, but this isn't you. You're deadlier than this."

His words hit her like a punch in the gut. They knocked the air from her lungs.

"Harmony, you've become distant," said Nathaniel. "And it can't just be because Alistair is gone. You were separated from him for months when you became the Warden Commander."

"Please stop." Their faces became blurred by the tears she could no longer hold at bay. She buried her face in her hands, trying in vain to hide it from them.

Even her tears wouldn't deter Zevran. "We would all of us follow you to the void and back, you know this. But you must say what it is you're hiding," he insisted.

Harmony felt her whole being tremble. She could barely breathe, let alone speak.

"Back off, elf." Suddenly Ellin's voice rumbled through like crashing thunder and made everyone shudder and stop.

"But…" Zevran began.

"You heard me." There was no questioning that tone.

There was a long pause. Everything in the swamp seemed to fall silent, even the High Dragon. The Queen felt Ellin crouch down beside her and rest a hand on her shoulder.

"It's not your fault, Harmony."

She looked up in surprise as Ellin called her by name for the very first time.

"It's not your fault Alistair left. He's a good man; he didn't do it to hurt you. He didn't know how to make things better, and somehow he got it into his head that chasing a ghost was the thing to do."

Harmony had to take a few deep breaths before she could speak, and even then her voice quivered uncontrollably. "I know."

"My sister had a stillbirth," Ellin quietly confessed.

Harmony's heart pounded against her rib cage. Her bodyguard had known then?

"It's not easy to move on from heartbreak like that. I can't say it didn't change her."

And there was the heart of the matter. There was the thing Harmony hadn't been able to talk about to anyone, not even Alistair. Her body had rejected his child. Her body had let a future King of Ferelden wither and die in her womb.

"I failed him. I failed everyone." A nation, no less. She could end a blight for them, but she couldn't give them an heir.

"Don't say that," Ellin snapped. "Don't you dare say that! Slayers of archdemons aren't allowed to say such things."

"We knew it could happen. Grey wardens have tainted blood, it makes having children… unlikely. That's why we kept the pregnancy secret. When it started to show, I went home to Highever to be in isolation. Alistair, Teagan, my brother Fergus and our healer were the only ones who knew." It was the sort of speech that was supposed to be wracked with sobs, but Harmony's eyes were dry now, as if she had run out of tears to give the matter. That didn't mean it hurt any less.

Zevran suddenly looked ill. He knelt down beside her and took her hands in his. "Harmony, I had no idea. I…"

"They had to cut my son out of me," she interrupted, pulling her hands away. She felt she had to keep speaking, had to tell them everything all at once. She felt she wouldn't have the courage to discuss it again. "I'm told it was a miracle I lived through it. Alistair rushed to Highever to see me after it happened. He tried to console me, but there was nothing he could say to reach me. Soon duty called him back to Denerim. I kept myself hidden away and I grieved alone."

There was a long pause. Harmony recalled the sorrow in her husband's eyes. She remembered pulling away as he tried to draw her close.

"Now I stop to think about it, I see that he was grieving too. We should have helped each other through it, but I pushed him away," she confessed. It was all so clear now. Of course the man had run off to a maker-forsaken swamp after that.

She took hold of her daggers in a firm grip and rose to her feet. "Well no more secrets. No more self-pity. No more crying over what might have been. I'm tired of it. Too tired."

"So then… do you have a plan?" Zevran asked. His voice wobbled so unsurely, she couldn't quite believe it was really coming from him.

"Just a vague one," she seethed. "If this Aurelian Titus wants my husband, he's going to have to go through me."

"I'm with you, my queen," Nathaniel said. He sank to one knee and bowed his head.

"As am I," Ellin declared, doing the same.

"My dear grey warden." Even Zevran was kneeling now.

The trees started to sway again. Loose leaves swirled through the clearing. The stars vanished overhead, and the dragon took flight once more.

* * *

_~ "Grey warden, I believe your Prince has wandered off alone," Zevran murmured. She followed his gaze to see Alistair disappearing into the trees. _

_"He's allowed to wander where he likes. What of it?" She turned back to the campfire and pretended not to care. _

_Zevran leaned in closer and smiled. "Stars. Moonlight. A forest by a lake. There are worse times and places to confess one's undying devotion, no?" _

_"Arl Eamon wants to make him King. He doesn't need me complicating his life further with my ill-advised infatuation." _

_"I suspect that might be exactly what he needs." Zevran stifled a yawn. "Besides, I tire of seeing the two of you in this clumsy dance. Go over there and kiss the man this minute, or I may have to rethink my decision not to assassinate you," he jested. _

_"Because that worked out so well for you the last time…" she laughed._

_"Think how heartbroken you'll be when you have to slit my throat."_

_She sighed in resignation and got to her feet. "I'm not naming my children after you."_

_He pretended to gasp. "You wound me." _

_She found Alistair down by the lake, sitting on a rock, staring out across the moonlit waters. A twig breaking underfoot gave away her approach. He seemed startled as he looked back at her over his shoulder. _

_"I'm sorry, I just came to see if…" Her voice trailed off as he held a hand out to her. She laced her fingers with his and let him pull her down beside him. _

_"So," he gazed up at the night sky. "All this time we're spent together... you know; the tragedy, the brushes with death, the constant battles with the whole Blight looming over us... Will you miss it once it's over?" _

_"Miss the battles?" she asked quietly. "Or miss you?"_

_He shifted his legs so that he could turn to face her, but he was suddenly too shy to look her in the eyes. "I know it might sound strange, considering we haven't known each other for very long, but I've come to... care for you. A great deal."_

_The words made Harmony's heart flutter. They made butterflies dance in her stomach. They made her wonder if she might be lost in some wonderful dream. _

_"I think maybe it's because we've gone through so much together, I don't know. Or maybe I'm imagining it. Maybe I'm fooling myself." His beautiful blue eyes looked right into hers in that moment. "Am I? Fooling myself? Or do you think you might ever... feel the same way about me?"_

_She swallowed. "I think I already do."_

_He smiled then. His face moved close to hers, so close that she could feel the brush of his lips as he spoke. "So I fooled you did I? Good to know."_

_Harmony felt herself melt the moment their lips met. The way he brushed her hair from her face. The way his arm tightened around her waist. The way he smiled as he came up for air. It felt like a promise that everything was going to be all right after all. _

* * *

The Northern Passage. Par Vollen was somewhere to the north, Rivain somewhere to the south, or so they told him. Alistair had to trust that he wasn't lost, but it felt like he might be about to fall off the edge of the world.

Isabela's ship bobbed gently on the waves. All around them was black water and black sky. Unconsciously he twisted his wedding band around his ring finger and stared into the canvas of stars above.

Harmony seemed a hundred years away. He imagined his wife stood on the deck beside him, squeezing his hand, head leaning against his shoulder. She could make everything better with a gentle smile. His treacherous mind conjured a child beside them, a son, grinning with excitement and leaning out over the railing. Tears welled up and he had to shut his eyes for a moment to hold them back.

When he opened them again, he was alone. Of course he was. How could it be any other way?

Alistair Theirin, the man cursed to have no family.

Isn't that what he'd always been?

* * *

**END OF PART ONE**

(**A/N:** Thanks so much to everyone who's given this a read, especially to those of you who've taken the time to write reviews. Sorry the chapters have been running a bit long, I'll try and make them a bit shorter after this.

You've probably noticed that I've written "end of part one" at the end of this chapter. This just means that we've reached the end of the chapters that follow alongside The Silent Grove comics. In part two we'll be seeing what Harmony and her party get up to during the events of Those Who Speak. Demons and assassins and qunari – oh my!

The current plan is for part three to follow Until We Sleep. However, at the time of writing this, Until We Sleep hasn't come out yet. This means Harmony's fate is currently in the hands of the great and powerful David Gaider. Am I nervous? Yes. I could unknowingly be in the midst of writing a tragedy! But it also makes things more exciting, let's be honest.

Anyway, I hope you've been enjoying the story so far and I hope you'll join me here for part two! – Bethadots)


	7. Take the Dragon by the Horns

**Chapter Seven – Take the Dragon by the Horns**

The Tellari Swamps held more corpses than answers. There seemed little reason to stay. At least Harmony had a name to go on: _Aurelian Titus_. Whatever other information she needed would have to come from elsewhere.

In the mean time there was another problem. A Crow shaped problem.

They waded through the marshes back towards civilisation. The High Dragon they had found in the swamp had circled overhead a few times before soaring off into the distance. For a long time it had stayed a winged shadow near the horizon, but now it had vanished entirely.

When the town of Seleny came into view, Harmony broke into a determined march. The wound in her leg had been healing nicely. It no longer forced a limp into her stride, but every step still brought her pain. She wished Wynne were there to work her magic on it, even if said healing came with an endless lecture on why it had been reckless to chase Alistair all the way to Antiva.

Nathaniel had to jog to catch up to Harmony's relentless pace. "Remind me why we're walking right into midst of people who want your friend dead?" he asked once beside her.

"Because if Zev runs now, he'll always be running. I freed him from these people and I intend to see that he stays free." Harmony kept her glare fixed on the town ahead and didn't slow down for a second.

"And how do you feel, elf, about hiding behind the queen's skirts like an infant?" she heard Ellin ask.

"If anything I would rather… something about getting under your skirts… or getting you out of them…" Zevran trailed off and let out a long sigh. "I am not myself. You'll have to make your own lewd remarks for a while."

Harmony looked back over her shoulder spared him a cautious smile. They had never before argued like they had back in the swamp. Then her confession had crashed onto him like a boulder. It would be a while before things were back to normal between them, but at least he was trying.

"So what's the plan?" asked Nathaniel. "We just walk into town and wait to be ambushed?"

Harmony drew to a halt and turned to her friends. "I'm walking in. You're staying out here where it's safe. All three of you."

"What?" Ellin cried. The way she covered her mouth afterwards made it seem like the noise had escaped her lips before she'd had time to stop it.

"Sol's already tried to kill Nathaniel to prove a point: you two are expendable to him. And Zevran's his target," Harmony explained. "Me? I own a nice shiny crown and that means I'm worth more alive than dead."

"Your Majesty, I really must…" Ellin began.

Zevran cut her off. "She has the right of it. Sol won't kill her."

"You see?" said Harmony.

"It's still not much of a plan," the elf added.

The Queen of Ferelden smiled warmly at the people who worked so hard to protect her. It was her turn to do the same for them.

"You can't always wait around for a good plan to show itself. Sometimes you have to just take a bad plan and roll with it. Take the dragon by the horns and hope for the best." At that, she pulled the hood of her cloak up over her head and turned towards the town, ready to march into battle.

"Does that usually work?" Ellin asked her.

"I'm still alive," she answered with a shrug.

* * *

Harmony stepped alone into Seleny's square. There was no sound other than the rain battering the cobblestones and her feet splashing through the puddles.

She felt her skin prickle, felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end and knew that there were arrows trained on her from all sides. She didn't need to glance up to the windows or the rooftops of the houses that lined the clearing to confirm that she was surrounded.

The square's market stalls were completely abandoned. The only person out in the open was Sol Castana. He stood before the doors of the chantry, staring upwards, letting the rain soak into his face. It wasn't until she was stood right in front of him that he even glanced her way.

"It's quiet here," Harmony observed. "Your haven't scared off all the locals, I hope?"

"Pleased to see you too, Queen of Hearts," he said with a wayward smile. "The locals are in hiding. Some inbred farmer's son thought he saw a dragon. They say it's the pet of the witch of the wilds. Ridiculous, I know," he chuckled. "But people are easily panicked this near to the swamps."

He was holding a longsword that was still in its scabbard. He balanced its tip on the ground and elegantly leaned against it as if it were a cane.

"Speaking of witches, we found Prince Claudio for you," she announced. "What was left of him, anyway. It seems he met a witch in his travels. I don't think she fell for his Antivan charm."

There was a careful pause. "So it is. Regrettable," was all he said. Whatever he felt about the news, Harmony couldn't tell. "And tell me, sweet lady, where is Zevran? He has done the Crows a service. He should be here to collect his reward."

"Drop the act," she snapped. "We both know the only reward you have planned is a slit throat and a shallow grave."

Sol grinned widely in amusement. "So you have come to bargain for his life, then?"

"Why must I bargain for something you seem to have no care for?" she asked him. "Why not just give this one small thing to the Queen of Hearts?"

"Small thing," he repeated. "Small thing?" There was a snort of disbelief, and the grin vanished from his face, replaced with a dangerous glare. Now serious Sol was speaking, and serious Sol made Harmony nervous.

"Tell me, how big is Antiva's army?" he asked.

The trick question made her pause for a moment. "You don't have one."

"_Si_. The Queen of Ferelden knows this. The Empress of Orlais knows this. The Kings and the Magisters and the Viscounts of all Thedas know this. Yet none of you march to claim our lands. Why? Because you all know that whoever ordered such an assault would not live to see another dawn. You all know to fear the assassins of this nation."

He stepped forwards as he spoke, moving near enough to brush a rogue strand of hair from her face. She wanted to bat his hand away, but his tone was so dangerous she thought it better to keep him talking.

"Your whoreson elf is an affront to this arrangement." Sol spat on the ground to emphasise his disgust. "When he failed to kill you, he could have stayed beyond our borders and lived a quiet life. Instead he chose to slay his former brothers in arms. He chose to scream from the rooftops that he had failed us and lived. He delighted in it. He sewed seeds of chaos, caring nothing for the innocent lives that would be lost should outsiders think us ripe for plucking."

"So long story short, Zevran made you look bad," she said dismissively.

"Securing the reputation of the Crows also keeps Antiva secure." He said it so vehemently that she scarcely recognised him as the smirking lothario she had met out at sea. "That is my sole purpose, my life's work. And Zevran has been making my task difficult for many years now. So I assure you, his life is no small thing to me."

"I won't let you take him," she swore.

He took a deep breath and stared down at his sword. "Sol Castana is not a name often heard beyond these shores. Perhaps it's time I made it clear to you exactly who you're dealing with." At that, he let the sword's sheath drop to the ground.

Harmony jumped back from him and reached back for her daggers. She drew them just in time that her blades caught his first attack. The clash of steel rang through the silent square like the toll of a bell. His Crows watched from the rooftops and did nothing to intervene.

A kick aimed for his knee was easily dodged. She followed through with a flurry of blows, all aimed for body parts that weren't easily blocked. His longsword somehow danced through the attacks. It spun her around and left her open to him. In the blink of an eye he was at her back, his dagger pressed to her throat. His sword-arm snaked around her waist to pull her tight against him.

Harmony had crossed blades with Tevinter slavers, Antivan Crows, Qunari mercenaries and dragon cultists. She had fought in dwarven provings. She had faced werewolves and abominations, darkspawn and the undead. But she had never seen a man as quick as this.

She felt him blow her hair aside. Felt his nose brush against her skin as he smelled her neck. "If Zevran was truly your friend, he would have warned you about me," he purred into her ear.

She realised then that this was no true duel. He was toying her. He assumed she would think herself trapped once in his grasp. He thought a dagger to her throat would make her raise her hands in surrender.

She recalled Zevran's words from the first night they'd met Sol. _Only try to fight him if he threatens you. And fight like an Antivan. There's no room for Fereldan honour here. _

"He did warn me," she replied. She snapped her head back to strike him in the face. She felt the back of her skull make something in his nose crunch. Before he knew what hit him, she had pushed his dagger arm away from her and spun out of his grasp.

Blood gushed from his broken nose, dripping over his lips and teeth. He wiped a sleeve across his face and started to laugh. "I suppose I asked for that," he chuckled.

Just then, the noon bells began to sound from the chantry. Their peals echoed from wall to wall through the empty square. There was nothing unusual about it. Hundreds of chantries across Thedas rang their bells to mark the middle of the day. But few chantry bells were within the hearing range of a rampaging High Dragon. Few were in a position to call such a creature to it like a dinner bell.

There was the sudden sound of flapping wings. Colossal wings that stirred the air around them. Sol and Harmony exchanged uneasy glances. She felt a shiver run the length of her spine.

Some of Sol's Crows up on the rooftops had seen something. Most began to whimper and squeal in panic, but there was one coherent shout that she needed no help translating. "_Dragón_!"

There was no time to breathe before something cataclysmic crashed down in front of them. The paved ground turned to dust beneath its feet, spreading cracks line veins through the cobblestones around it. The High Dragon spat out a mangled corpse, then let out a roar so loud that Harmony thought her ears were going to burst.

Its bulk almost filled the square. A swish of its tail smashed through a wall of the building behind it. It spotted Harmony then, and stomped with one of its front legs to try and pin her to the ground. She was only just quick enough to roll out of the way.

She heard voices screaming her name and looked over to the street that had led her into the square. Nathaniel, Ellin and Zevran were sprinting towards her. Evidently they had seen the dragon approach. Nathaniel already had his shortbow drawn and was firing shots into the beast's hind legs as he ran in. It didn't seem to notice.

Arrows and crossbow bolts rained down from the rooftops as Sol's Crows began to offer their aid. Most ricocheted off the beast's black scales, but some became lodged in the folds of its wings. It screeched up at them, somehow seeming even angrier than it had before.

A serpentine neck swooped down at Harmony. Its head was twice her size. Its teeth snapped at her, but she tumbled backwards to stay out of its grasp. While its attention was elsewhere, Sol ran in to stab the creature in the belly. It was enough to draw blood, but far from a mortal blow.

It reared up on its hind legs and glared down at the humans beneath it. For a moment Harmony found herself frozen on the spot.

She remembered the first High Dragon she met. She remembered feeling like she was already dead as it snapped her up in its jaw. She was so consumed by her fear in that moment, that she was barely aware of the fiery torrent of dragon's breath billowing her way.

Then, like a battering ram, Ellin crashed into her full-force and knocked her clear of the blast. Together they slammed into the ground. For a moment Harmony couldn't move, crushed beneath her armoured bodyguard. Then Ellin rolled clear and hoisted the Queen back to her feet.

Nathaniel was purposely drawing the beast's attention to give them time to regroup. He tore past it, shouting insults at the top of his lungs while he fired arrows its snout. It turned with surprising agility to try and whip the archer with its tail, but he jumped high in the air so that the attack missed, then bolted in the other direction.

Zevran ran in then, launched himself into a mighty leap and sank both daggers into one of the dragon's wings. The leathery folds gave little resistance to the blades, and Zevran tore down them like a pirate through a ship's canvas. Howling, the dragon unfurled the shredded wing then and shook Zevran loose. He was catapulted across the square, but rolled into his landing and bounced right back to his feet.

Panicked, the beast tried to take flight, but with one wing torn to shreds, it couldn't manage to rise more than a few feet off the ground. With the chance to escape removed, it lunged forward to try and snap up the elf that had mutilated it. 

Harmony realised then that she had a choice. A choice not unlike the one Zevran was facing with the Crows. She could live in fear forever and avoid the obstacles that she might not be strong enough to overcome. Or she could take the dragon by the horns.

While its head was down and its attention was elsewhere, Harmony took her chance. She sprinted up to it, buried one dagger deep in its neck and used the hilt to swing herself up onto the back of the dragon's neck.

Desperately it thrashed around, kicking stalls aside, smashing the square apart with its whip of a tail. Harmony held on for dear life, trying not to notice how far away the ground had become. Through the dizziness and the nausea of its frantic movements, with all the strength and determination she could muster, she thrust her second dagger down into the top of its skull.

The dragon screeched in pain, then fell silent.

Its head dropped to the ground like a sack of bricks, and Harmony tumbled off onto the cobblestones.

For a moment all she could do was lie flat on the ground, catch her breath and stare up at the sky. She found herself laughing. It felt like searching high and low for something thought lost, only to find it in her pocket all along. In spite of everything she was still formidable, she was still a force to be reckoned with. She could still be fearless.

Ellin was there to pull her up to her feet. "Take the dragon by the horns," the bodyguard repeated.

"Not such a bad plan after all, was it?" Harmony said as she dusted herself off. Ellin pursed her lips and said nothing.

"Where's Sol?" she heard Zevran ask.

Harmony scanned the square. She realised then that she hadn't seen the man since the dragon had breathed fire. Anxiously, she scanned the square for a charred body. She didn't like Sol much, but that wasn't a death she wished on anyone.

After a moment, Nathaniel nudged her with his elbow and nodded over to where their Antivan foe lay on the ground, body protruding from the remains of an overturned cart. His chest was heaving with great effort to pump air back into his lungs. He was trapped.

His Crows had also seen him, they were scrambling from the rooftops and the edges of the square to try and be the first to reach him, but Harmony was much closer. In just a moment she was crouched beside Sol, dagger pressed to his neck.

"Tell your dogs to stay where they are," she ordered.

Sol swallowed a groan of pain, then called out "_Detener!_" His men froze in place as if they'd been turned to stone.

"I don't want any arrows pointed this way either," she added.

"_Gettate le armi!_" he called to them. Bows were lowered to the ground and hands raised in surrender.

"Good, now we're going to have a little talk."

Sol sighed in resignation. "They'll swarm on you if you kill me."

"But you want to live. So you'll agree to help me and we'll call a truce," said Harmony.

He rolled his eyes. "You want me to promise not to harm Zevran? I can't give you that, and it would do you little good."

"Oh?"

"If I were to stop hunting your friend, my life would be forfeit anyway, and another Crow would come for him," he explained, shaking his head.

She pressed the blade tighter against his throat. "You don't have anything else we need, Sol Castana," she seethed.

"Wait," she heard Zevran's voice from over her shoulder. "What do you know of Aurelian Titus?"

Sol's eyes narrowed as he gazed up at the elf. "I've heard the name spoken, though only in hushed whispers."

"He can't help us," Ellin grunted impatiently. "Just kill him, Your Majesty."

A part of her was ready to do it. To end him. She was tired of these Antivans and their games. All of it just served to slow her quest to find Alistair.

"Wait!" Sol yelped. "There is a woman the Crows sometimes go to for answers when a trail has gone cold. A Rivaini seeress by the name of Callista. She lives not far from Ayesleigh. I can take you there, in exchange for my life."

Harmony grimaced. "And what of Zevran?"

"I'll say he escaped our grasp. It will be a cover. I'll say Zevran's trail went cold so I had to go to the seeress for advice." It was the panic in his voice that made her believe him.

"Good man," she said with a nod. "Let's pay a visit to this seeress then."

Nathaniel and Zevran set to work on freeing the man, and the Crows that surrounded them flocked in to help. Ellin meanwhile, pulled Harmony aside for a private word.

"You cannot trust that Antivan," she groaned. "This is your worst plan yet."

"Correct." There was no sense arguing.

"Your Majesty…" she began, in that tone that made _Your Majesty_ sound like _you idiot_.

Harmony just shrugged. "I've got nothing else to go on. And we have a King to track."

"Are we going to end up regretting this?" Ellin asked seriously.

Harmony paused.

Suddenly she recalled the hopelessness in her mother's eyes as she left her parents to the mercy of a traitor.

She remembered a dwarf named Bhelen who had been clever enough to learn her story first, then used the word "usurper" to tug at her heartstrings and get her to side with him.

She remembered thinking that Loghain Mac Tir might be more useful as an ally than a corpse, but staying silent as Alistair struck the man's head from his shoulders.

She remembered promising her friend Anora a crown and then locking her up for refusing to marry her father's killer.

"I seem to end up regretting a lot of things," she eventually answered. "I'll be surprised if this makes the top five."


	8. Seeress

**Chapter Eight – Seeress**

It turned out that saving the town from a High Dragon wasn't the sort of thing a person could follow with a quiet exit. Once the beast had fallen, the townsfolk began to venture out to offer their thanks. In no time at all a celebration had begun, with the visitors from Ferelden at its centre.

"It's all fun and games until somebody notices they've a dragon the size of a barn to dispose of," Ellin had scoffed.

Now it was evening, and they found themselves in a crowded tavern filled with music and dancing. Antivan songs were spirited, all furious lute strumming and fast clapping. Harmony didn't know what to make of it, but was fascinated to watch.

She could only imagine how the nobles of the landsmeet would react if they could see her there, sat on the bar, clapping along. Her feet were bare while her boots dried by the fire. Her leggings were rolled up to her knees. She was adorned from head to toe with rings and bangles and silk scarves gifted to her by grateful townsfolk. She looked more like a pirate than the wife of a king.

Zevran grinned up at her over the rim of his mug.

"What?" she asked him.

"You were the Harmony I remember today," he answered. "Good to have you back, my friend."

The bartender was behind them, cleaning a glass with a wet rag. "Are you Crows?" he asked, half stumbling over words that were foreign to him.

Harmony had told the townsfolk her name, but not her title. Her friends had understood that it was simpler not to mention her status. Sol, meanwhile, had been happy to let the people assume they had the Crows to thank.

"No. We are…" Zevran began.

"We're our own guild," Harmony butted in, Antivan brandy making her brazen. "This is our leader, Zevran Arainai." She couldn't help but laugh at the puzzled glance Zevran shot her.

"Oh," the man arched an eyebrow. "What do you call this guild?"

There was a long pause. Then Zevran's mouth spread into a roguish smile. "_Cani di Guerra_," he answered. Then he repeated it in King's tongue so that Harmony could understand, "Dogs of War."

"You have our gratitude for saving Seleny, _Cani di Guerra_," the man bowed his head to them. Then he brought them each another glass of brandy, on the house.

"You would have me rival my old guild?" Zevran asked, once the man had shuffled away.

Harmony just shrugged. "Isn't it better than waging war on them? You could do what you love and keep being a thorn in their side. Besides, Sol told me no one in their right mind would attack Antiva with the threat of the Crows looming over it. Ferelden could use an added deterrent like that to keep our neighbours at bay. If you felt like basing yourself in Denerim, that is."

Zevran stared off into space for a moment, eyes twinkling with mischief.

"Come," he said then, holding out his hand to her. She took it and he pulled her down off the bar. "Drink up," he ordered. She did as she was told, and swallowed her tot of brandy in one great gulp.

"Are we going somewhere?"

"I need an evening to think this through, and you need to let your hair down for once. So drink, dance and be merry. Forget about Ferelden and its King for a couple of hours. You deserve the break. I'll be here to keep an eye on you."

He tried to pull her out into the open space in the middle of the room, where the tables had all been pushed back against the walls to make room celebrating. She dug her heels in to stop him from throwing her into the thick of dancing Antivans.

Ellin was stood at attention with her back to the wall, keeping an eye on everything. Harmony shot her a pleading look, but the bodyguard just shrugged and stayed where she was. It was Ellin's job to protect the queen from physical danger. The danger of tripping over her own feet and looking like an idiot was Harmony's problem.

"I don't know how to dance like an Antivan," she protested.

"You know how to fight like one. It's much the same, just with less pointy things," the elf assured her.

Suddenly Nathaniel was beside them. "She's lying to you," he told Zevran. "Her mother held dances all the time at Castle Highever. Who was it that taught you your steps again, Lady Cousland? Wasn't it your Antivan sister-in-law?"

She could tell the man had already had a few drinks because he was actually grinning at her.

"I'm sure I don't know what you're talking about," Harmony sniffed.

Nathaniel chuckled and sank into a low bow. "My lady, may I have this dance?" he asked like a gentleman.

Reluctantly she took his hand. As he pulled her into the centre of the dance floor, she realised that while she didn't recognise the tune being played, the steps at least were familiar. It was a slow melody, not something to get one's feet in a tangle. She smiled up at Nathaniel as he took the lead.

In the corner of her eye she could see Sol watching from his seat. At least she didn't need to worry about him cutting in; the fight had left him too beaten up to do much more than tap his feet along to the tune.

"I can't believe I still remember how to do this," her partner muttered.

"We never did dance together at any of my mother's parties." She remembered young Nathaniel in all his finery, stood off to the side with a glass of wine in his hand. He had been broody even then.

"You were still a girl when I left for the Free Marches." He twirled her around in a circle and then pulled her in close again. "You were a lady by the time I came back to visit, but Thomas had his eye on you. He made me promise not to ask."

"Thomas did?" she almost laughed, but stopped as she recalled that Thomas had died eight years ago. "Maker… I used to wonder what I'd done to offend you."

"My sincerest apologies," he said, bowing his head.

"It all seems like another life now." In fact it seemed like another world entirely, Ferelden was so far behind them. Her mother would have had a heart attack to see the two of them in each other's arms in some backwater tavern, cheeks flushed red from too much brandy.

"I know what you mean," he concurred. The dance called for her to spin her about so that she was facing away from him. One hand held hers high in the air, the other wrapped around her waist and pulled her in close. They promenaded in a circle around the dance floor, following the other couples.

"Why did you follow me all this way?" It felt easier to ask him while they didn't have to face each other. "Don't think I'm not grateful, I am. It's just… you're not obliged to escort me half way across the world, as a grey warden or a noble of Ferelden."

"What about as a friend?" he asked over her shoulder.

"Even as that."

The step changed and he turned her to face him again. "Harmony, you've handed me your command. You're going out of your way to see that Zevran has a better life. You try at every turn to convince us to leave your side and return home. It's as if you don't see yourself returning from this adventure."

Before she could respond, the song came to an end. The Antivan men brought the dance to a close by taking the Antivan women in their arms and lowering them towards the ground. For two wellborn Fereldans with an unhappy past, that didn't seem inappropriate. Instead Harmony pulled away from him and curtseyed with an imaginary skirt. Nathaniel bowed in response.

"Isn't a good commander always prepared?" she asked him.

Rising from his bow, Nathaniel opened his mouth ready to say something. Before he got the chance though, the musicians struck up a new, much livelier tune. One of the townsfolk swept in, took Harmony by the arm and dragged her into the next dance before she had a chance to step aside.

This new dance involved linking arms with a partner and spinning with them in a circle. Every few bars the Antivans flung her across the floor into the waiting arms of a new partner. She looked back to find that Nathaniel had also been dragged into the chaos of it.

Their eyes met for a moment across the room, then Harmony looked away. She was tired of his concerned gaze. She was tired of everyone worrying about her. She was tired of everything being so grave. Now was the time for dancing, for forgetting, for drinking.

She extricated herself from the dance and sauntered back to the bar. It wasn't long before the evening became a blur of brandy and twirling, clapping Antivans.

* * *

Harmony woke to find herself curled up in her bunk aboard Sol's ship. Her head was in Ellin's lap and there was a bucket beside her; evidently one she had already made use of.

"Good morning, Your Majesty," her bodyguard said, voice deadpan. Harmony could only groan in response. Nothing much about it seemed good.

She could feel from the gentle rocking of the ship that their journey was underway. Rivain awaited, and so did the Seeress they had been told about. A woman who claimed to glimpse the future. Such a thing seemed… not of the Maker, but it wouldn't be the first time Harmony had trusted in a power she could not understand for the sake of holding onto Alistair.

The light stung her eyes so badly she could barely open them. Her pounding head felt too small to house her brain. "I don't even remember coming aboard."

"I didn't imagine you would," Ellin scoffed.

"You didn't… carry me, did you?" she asked, peering up at her bodyguard.

Ellin shook her head. "You leapt on my back, kicked me in the sides and yelled '_To battle, horsey!_'"

"I did no such thing!" Harmony protested. She cringed, suddenly regretting the volume of her own voice.

"You're right," Ellin chortled. "I slung you over my shoulder like a sack of spuds."

"Now I don't know which is true."

Ellin just shrugged. "Pick the one that causes you the least embarrassment."

"Well… thank you, for looking after me." It occurred to Harmony then that she had never before thanked the woman, and that there was a lot she ought to thank her for.

"Antivans are a bad influence on you," Ellin said, rolling her eyes.

The queen of Ferelden nodded as she pulled herself up from the comfort of Ellin's lap. "_Maledire coloro che fare la brandy," _she muttered with poor pronunciation.

"I didn't know you spoke the language."

"A few words I picked up from Zev, none of them polite."

Ellin pursed her lips. "And what did that mean?"

"Curse the ones who make the brandy." Harmony tried to manage a mischievous grin, but her face was unwilling.

Sol's ship sailed downriver, and Ellin spent the time nursing Harmony back to health. It was above and beyond the call of duty for her bodyguard, and it shamed Harmony to have let herself get into such a state.

But the current of the river with them, it barely took any time at all to reach the open sea. Soon the rolling tides of Rialto Bay returned, and so did Ellin's seasickness. Then it was Harmony's turn to care for her bodyguard. By the time Rivain's shores appeared on the horizon, she had spent almost the whole journey holed up in the cabin with the woman who she was beginning to see as a dear friend as well as a protector.

* * *

The sky was grey above the Rivaini coastline, a squall threatened to break at any moment. The air was humid and sticky. Palms swayed in the breeze atop a jagged cliff that looked eager to dash their ship to pieces if they ventured too near. Ravens circled overhead. Their cawing sounded like a warning somehow, as if they might be begging the ship to turn around and head back.

Their destination was a cave set into an outcrop of rocks at the base of those cliffs. Its entrance was half obscured by fog, but the lit lanterns outside would help to guide the visitors toward it.

"We've not spoken much since our duel," Sol said to Harmony as the longboat was lowered down into the water. His face bloomed purple and yellow with bruises over the nose she had broken.

"What's there to say? We've called a truce, haven't we? I've spared your life and I've put mine in your hands. All that remains is to see if you stab me in the back."

Sol clasped a hand to his chest as if mortally wounded. "Queen of Hearts, your words are sharp as your daggers."

"It's your word that concerns me," she said coldly.

"My word is my bond," he assured her, bowing his head. "I said I would help you and I shall. Callista is a dangerous woman. For what you seek there may be a heavy price to pay. But I intend to be at your side for this. I intend to be true. I owe you that much."

Nobody spoke as they rowed through the waves. Nathaniel and Ellin took the oars. Sol held a lantern high above his head to keep a look out for shallow rocks. Harmony just stared ahead at the cave, trying to will her fears away. There was no turning back now.

As if sensing her distress, Zevran clapped a hand to her shoulder. He didn't have any words for her, but it helped to know that he was at her side.

A ramshackle dock made from driftwood sat outside the cave's entrance. It was caked in barnacles and seaweed and looked ready to crumble into the bay at any moment, but they tied up their boat and stepped onto dry land all the same.

The mist in the air was lit by the eerie glow of the wisps that floated freely through it. The veil was thin here. Harmony was no mage, but she'd felt it before. In the Blackmarsh, at Soldier's Peak and in the Circle Tower. There was a strangeness in the air that made her light-headed. It felt like that odd place at the edge of sleep where you're sure you're awake right up until the moment a loud noise makes you jerk back into full consciousness.

"It's simple, Queen Harmony," Sol told her soberly. It made her nervous to hear him use her name for once. "You put a sovereign in your hand and you hold it out to her. Then you tell her what it is you seek. She takes the coin and she tells you what she sees in the lines of your palm."

"That's it?" Ellin asked incredulously.

"So one hopes," came Sol's ominous reply.

Harmony suddenly noticed that up close the protrusions of rocks around the cave's entrance looked vaguely like the maw of a dragon. Swallowing her fear, she took the lantern from Nathaniel and marched inside. The sound of footsteps behind her told her that her friends had followed on behind.

"Rare it is for one of your stature to arrive at my door, Ferelden Queen," came a voice from inside.

The inside of the cave was as big as Ferelden's throne room. All was faintly lit by the dim glow of candles. Hundreds of them lined the cave's edges, crowded together on the floor and in spots where the rocks jutted out to form ledges. In the centre of everything there was a table with a chair on each side, and in one of those chairs sat the woman they had travelled for days to speak with.

Callista was terrifying to behold. One eye was a fiery brown so rich it almost appeared red. The other was a milky white. Her greying dreadlocks were braided with charms and bells and coins. Her ears, eyebrows, nostrils and lips were studded with countless piercings. Dark skin and hair blended with the dark of the room, and the whites of her eyes seemed to glow as she gazed up at her visitors with a crooked smile.

"I seek the one who hunts my husband," Harmony said bravely, uncurling her fingers to show the coin in her palm.

"Then let us seek together," she replied. She used her foot to push out the second chair for Harmony. Ferelden's queen glanced nervously to Sol before sinking into it. The Seeress snatched the gold, then took both of Harmony's hands into her own and began poring over them.

"This is your lifeline," she said. Harmony shivered as the woman traced a finger along the crease in her palm. "Its depth speaks of great vitality and strength. But the line is interrupted and cut short."

"My blood is tainted," Harmony explained calmly. "I'm to die young, it's not news."

Callista nodded gravely to confirm this. "Your fate line though, is prominent," she continued. "You are a woman destined to be remembered long after your death." That was hardly news either. "What you ask of me is nothing small. You are born of a great line, wed to a greater one. And the one you seek is powerful indeed."

"I've overcome worse," Harmony informed her.

"I know you have." Callista's smile revealed a mouth filled with rotting teeth. "We've been waiting for someone like you."

Without warning, one of Callista's jagged, claw-like fingernails dug deep into the flesh of Harmony's palm. An yelp of pain escaped her lips and immediately she heard Ellin behind her drawing her sword.

Fresh blood began to trickle out. Harmony tried to pull her hand away, but Callista latched onto her wrist with a vice-like grip.

"Let her go," Ellin demanded.

Callista wasn't threatened. She just held a finger up to her lips. "Shhh, sleep."

Harmony looked over her shoulder in time to see Ellin's eyes close. She crumpled to the ground and the sword fell from her grasp. Zevran followed silently, a panicked look in his eyes as he sank down. Nathaniel soon followed.

"This isn't what we came here for," Sol muttered helplessly, and then he also fell.

A tug on Harmony's arm made her look back to the seeress.

"It's nothing to worry yourself over, Harmony Queen," the woman said. "Lay down your head. My friends will give you what you need to save your King."

Blood rose from her palm in droplets, like rain flowing upwards. It dispersed into a fine mist. Callista's eyes and fingertips glowed with magic. Every fibre of Harmony's being told her to reach for her daggers. Instead, she lay her head down on the table and closed her eyes.

* * *

Harmony was exactly where she was supposed to be; under a warm, soft blanket that smelled like home. The curtains of the window above the bed swayed gently in the breeze, letting streaks of sunlight peek through. All was quiet. She felt so comfortable. So safe.

She had dreamed of unhappy adventure, of strangers taking her far away, of people from her past looking at her like she was broken. Vaguely she recalled searching for something dearly treasured that had gotten away from her.

Whatever it was, it had escaped to the back of her mind. She couldn't quite grasp it, and she didn't need to. Everything was back to normal.

She didn't realise she was naked until she felt another body press up against her. A hand caressed her hip and moved up to settle on the bump of her pregnant stomach. Lips planted gentle kisses down her neck and across her shoulder. An unshaven jaw prickled her skin, sending goose bumps down her body.

She smiled into her pillow. "Alistair, I'm supposed to be getting plenty of rest, remember?"

"But you're just so… there's just so much of your…" his hands began to wander as he spoke.

"Yes?"

"…You're just so curvy right now. I can't possibly be expected to keep my hands off you."

Harmony just laughed and rolled over to face him. "I'm as awkward as a calving bronto."

"Absolutely not. You are glowing, and voluptuous and sexy and there's absolutely nothing you can say that will weaken my lust for you," his tone was glib, but only because saying such things embarrassed him.

"…Broodmother," she whispered. Then she laughed and stuck her tongue out at him.

"That's not nice," he pouted. "You don't play fair."

He held out an arm for her, and she moved in close and settled her head on his chest. "You know, we haven't thought up a name yet," he said. "I was thinking, for a girl perhaps we could name her Eleanor."

"After my mother. I like that. Princess Eleanor Theirin." She was touched that Alistair knew her mind so well. The name was perfect.

"What about for a boy?" she asked him. Alistair kissed her forehead, then looked down at her and smiled.

"Duncan," they decided in unison.

"Prince Duncan Theirin." Harmony couldn't help but laugh a little. "Duncan would have found that so embarrassing."

Without warning, Alistair's arms wrapped around her and squeezed her tightly. "I'm going to love this baby so much," he promised. "I'm going to make sure it always knows what it is to have a caring family."

Harmony realised then that her baby meant more to Alistair than she had known. He had been raised a bastard, never knowing his parents, clinging steadfastly to anything that slightly resembled that kind of a connection. Now he would have a family of his own.

"Me too," she whispered, tears pricking at her eyes now that she understood what she was giving to the man she loved. She closed her eyes and buried her face in his chest.

"You and I are going to raise a great leader," he told her. It seemed a strange thing to say in that moment, but she supposed it was important for a King to think of such things.

"A ruler to make Ferelden flourish," he continued. Something didn't seem quite right. Somehow it sounded like there was another voice behind Alistair's. A deep and unfamiliar voice. "Someone to bring the rest of Thedas to its knees," it said to her.

Harmony's eyes shot wide open. "Unhand me, demon."


	9. Vex and Delight

**Chapter Nine – Vex and Delight**

Harmony cursed herself inwardly. It wasn't her first time lost in the fade, but desperation had blinded her to this obvious trap. Now there was nothing for it but to try and find a way out.

"I'm not with child," Harmony snapped at Alistair, or rather the demon pretending to be him. "Nor am I your plaything." She jumped to her feet and wrapped the bed-sheet around her naked body.

"Come now," it purred softly, gazing up at her with Alistair's bedroom eyes. "You could be both if you wanted to be. Does the sweet prince not do it for you?"

The demon rolled across the bed and rose up beside her. Its shape went blurry for a moment, then suddenly it looked like Zevran. "Would you prefer the elven bad boy instead?"

A laugh, and the demon became Nathaniel. "Perhaps the brooding boy next door?"

It stepped forward and grasped her by the shoulders. "Or maybe it's the swarthy, older man you fancy?" Now Harmony was looking at Duncan.

Disgusted, she pulled away. "I don't think about other men that way."

"You do worry about Alistair being unfaithful though." Duncan melted away and became Isabela, a twisted smirk on her lips. "But you did say I could borrow him for the summer."

It was useless to snap at the creature. The best thing to do was ignore its games. "Where are my friends?" she demanded.

Seeing that it wasn't going to get a rise out of her, the demon sank back into its true form. A mostly human shape, save for the tail, the horns and the claws. A desire demon, clad in little more than jewellery. It smirked at the way Harmony had to avert her gaze.

"They've been telling us of their deepest longings," she purred.

Harmony just rolled her eyes. "You've been toying with them, you mean."

"I think you'd find their thoughts very interesting. One of them would protect you with their dying breath. One has a conscience fraught with guilt over a secret kept from you. The third resents you, deep down."

More bait. Harmony didn't rise to it. "You said _us_. Who is _us_?"

"Seeress Callista, and the two of us."

"Two of what? Demons?"

"I'm Delight," the demon said, bowing her head. "You'll meet Vex later. When you do, you'll wish you stayed with me in our happy little dream," she said cryptically, and then she faded away. Harmony was left on her own.

She stood still for a moment, just trying to wrap her head around what had happened. Seeing Alistair again had felt so real for a moment. Her eyes welled with tears and she wrapped her arms around herself and shuddered.

Soon enough the moment had passed. There was nothing for it but to keep going, find her friends, find a way out, and get back to finding the real Alistair. The moment she had made the decision, her body changed back to normal, and she found she was dressed in her leather armour with her daggers at her back.

There was only one door in the room, and she pulled it open. She already knew what was on the other side.

The raw fade. It was a strange place, utterly foreign and hauntingly familiar all at once. Every inch of it spoke to her of memories that hovered just at the edge of recollection. Rocky islands floated through a brown and orange sky, chained together by eternity. The wind carried the whispers of spirits and demons, and the overwhelming feeling of being alone and adrift. And always hovering in the distance, always somewhere in sight was the ghostly silhouette of the Black City.

One thing Harmony had learned of the fade, was that it was best to keep moving forwards. It had a strange way of carrying you to exactly where you needed to be. Footsteps were strange here, where time and space seemed to ripple together. Sometimes a great bound didn't seem to move her anywhere at all, other times a small step seemed to carry her for leagues.

Soon enough she found herself in front of a portal, an arch made of stone. Within was a wall of crackling light, glowing purple, blue, pink and white. There was little point in worrying where it led, not when the fade wasn't presenting any other options. She took a deep breath and leapt in.

* * *

She landed in a Denerim alley. It wasn't one of the straight cobblestone streets that nobles rolled their carriages down. It was one of the dark, forgotten lanes where most of the windows were boarded up and nobody poked their head outside even if someone was dying on their doorstep. Now the whole street was littered with bodies. The dust on the ground was dyed red with blood.

Zevran was staring down at the body of a friend he had just murdered. Taliesen. A slit throat. A clean kill. His former life had clashed violently with his new one and forced him to make a choice he had hoped to avoid. His hands shook as he sheathed his daggers.

Harmony remembered being here. Battling through Taliesen's ambush had been brutal. Her face was caked with dirt and blood, her knees were skinned and her chin and left cheek were both blooming purple with bruises.

Oghren and Leliana were there too, just as blood-caked, just as battle-worn. Here in the fade though they were strange, silent versions. Less than ghosts.

"Zevran, this is just a memory," Harmony said, half stumbling to her friend's side.

Zevran's eyes shone with tears but he didn't let them fall. "Yes," he whispered. "A demon toys with us. This is the fade."

"You knew?" Actually they seemed to be at the whim of two demons, but Harmony didn't want to worry him with that news just yet.

"We've done this dance before," he shrugged. "The demon brings up this memory as if to stir anger that you had me kill Taliesen. As if you took my life as a Crow from me."

"Didn't I?" It was something they never talked about. She'd always wondered secretly if a part of Zevran had wanted to turn on her in that moment, to side with Taliesin and reclaim his old life. She'd always wondered if he'd held it against her that he'd been forced to kill his old friend.

Always wondered, never asked.

Delight said that one of her friends resented her deep down. It broke her heart to think it might be her assassin.

Zevran shook his head. "I think on this day as one of the best of my life. Do you remember what followed?"

Harmony smiled at him. There was such sincerity in his voice; she couldn't doubt that he meant those words. "We all stayed together, I wanted to make sure you understood that you had friends who would stand by you. We sat by the docks as the sun went down. Oghren found some Antivan brandy and we drank it together. You didn't say a word; I was so worried. But once the bottle was empty, you stood up, and you looked to me, and you said, 'Thank you.' Just that, nothing else. And then we all stumbled back to Arl Eamon's estate, and I knew that you would stay by my side for good or ill until I found the archdemon."

Zevran nodded, and his shape began to fade from view.

"No, don't leave me," she begged.

Too late. He was already gone.

She heard an angered growl then. It was a directionless sound that seemed to be all around her at once. In the corner of her eye she thought she could see a creature made of fire, but by the time she turned to face it, there was nothing there.

The fade portal reappeared in front of her. Harmony didn't waste a moment. She leapt through into the next memory.

* * *

She found herself at the beginning of the end. The eve of battle. The precipice.

Castle Redcliffe was packed to the rafters with the unlikely army assembled by the grey wardens. Everything they had been striving for had led them here. Everything would be decided, for good or ill, once the morning came.

But none of it mattered in the moment of this memory.

Harmony was alone in a draughty corridor, sat on the floor in silence, shivering in her nightdress. Everyone was in bed. Nobody was supposed to be roaming the halls of the guest quarters. Nobody was supposed to see her there in the darkness beside the closed door of that guest bedroom.

Zevran swept past, a lone candlestick in his hand to guide him back to his room. He nearly walked right by, but her chattering teeth gave her away.

"I remember this too," he told her.

Harmony snorted and let her head rest against the wall behind her. "There were a lot more tears the first time." She couldn't help but feel angry that the demon had chosen to bring her here, to one of the worst memories of her life. Her anger was clearly what it wanted though, so she did what she could to keep it in check.

"I never knew why you were wandering around at this hour," she said to Zevran.

"I had just bedded one of the maids," he admitted with a shameless chuckle. Then his voice turned serious again. Harmony hated it when Zevran's voice turned serious. "I never asked you that question either," he said.

"You just sat with me." Harmony patted the cold stone floor beside her to beckon him over. He lowered himself beside her and put an arm around her shoulders, just as he had done eight years ago. The warmth of him beside her was enough to stop her shivering.

From somewhere behind the closed door, the heart-wrenching sound returned. A bed-frame creaking in a slow and steady rhythm; a familiar song to an elf raised in a brothel.

Zevran didn't ask her to explain why it was happening, just as he hadn't the first time. He raised the candle to his lips and blew it out. They sat together in the dark and never said a word.

"You were the only thing that stopped me falling to pieces that night," she admitted in a faint whisper.

"In truth, the demon shares this memory in another attempt to enrage me," Zevran replied. "Back then, I blew out the light so you couldn't see the anger on my face."

Harmony hadn't realised that. "You were angry?"

Zevran let out a long sigh before he tried to explain. "I was a scoundrel when you found me. An uncaring wretch. You helped me to become something more. Since I swore my oath of loyalty to you, it felt like you were mine to protect. Not in the way of a jealous lover or even a mother watching her cubs. It was something deeper than that for me. You were my angel. You represented my chance of a new life, a good life."

Harmony let out a snort of laughter in spite of herself. "I thought you just didn't want to see the snot dripping down my face."

But Zevran wasn't laughing. "I would have killed him for you that night, had you asked it. If I had found you heartbroken the next morning, I probably would have killed him anyway. "

They both fell silent for a moment. In the background the creaking noise sped up and grew louder

"I told him to do it," Harmony confessed. "Morrigan said it would save our lives if he did. Losing him to the archdemon seemed like the worse fate."

She wished Zevran would say something, anything so that she wouldn't have to listen to that noise any more. But there was nothing left to say. They could only sit in silence as things in the bedroom behind them drew to their inevitable conclusion.

There were voices within the room. The sound was too muffled to make out the words, but the exchange sounded like brusque dismissal, curt and unfriendly.

"That was my cue to leave, if I'm not mistaken. I think this demon will part us now. _Eroe mio_ - my hero, I know you will free us from this."

"You can free yourself, Zevran. You don't need me. Just remember that this is all a dream. And keep moving forwards. I'll see you again, I swear it."

Harmony felt Zevran press the candlestick into her hand, she felt him move away from her, vanishing into the corridor without a sound.

"Remember it isn't real," she called after him desperately.

That growling sound returned. Again she saw the creature of flame move somewhere at the edge of her vision. She sat still on the floor and didn't try to look at the rage demon this time. She didn't want to give it any satisfaction as it toyed with her.

"I know you're here. I know your name is Vex. Come and speak with me if you wish. It's rude to skulk around in the shadows," she said calmly, still sat on the floor.

The creature emerged from inside the wall and towered over her, its mouth twisted into a smirk. The fire that made up its body lit up the pitch-black hallway. Harmony spared it an indifferent glance then began examining her fingernails as if they interested her more than a demon ever could.

"So what's the game here? You and your scantily clad friend want a different host in the waking world. Is that it?" Harmony asked, managing to as if being imprisoned in the fade was nothing more than a tiresome inconvenience. She knew fear and panic and anger would only feed the creature.

"The Hero of Ferelden does not suffer abominations to live. It's you or us," Vex snarled.

Harmony rolled her eyes. "Come on. You couldn't have thought I was a threat. I didn't even know Callista was an abomination until you brought me here."

Vex's voice dropped to a low rumble. "You assume your presence here was our choice."

Harmony looked up at the demon. "Who else's choice would it be? Callista cut my hand and used blood magic to… Ohhh…" Suddenly the penny dropped. She hopped to her feet and her mouth spread into a wide grin. "Your Seeress wants rid of her passengers." Her hands moved to the hilts of her daggers.

Vex said nothing, just shrank back into the wall and left the Queen of Ferelden standing in the dark. It only served to confirm Harmony's theory. She'd been brought here to exorcise these two demons. Now she had no choice but to fight her way out. She'd have to be quick about it too; out in the waking world her body was no doubt being slowly drained of its life.

They were frightened of her though; that much was clear. Good, Harmony thought. They were right to be frightened. Now she just needed to find Nathaniel and Ser Ellin, confront these demons and break free.

The fade began to creak and shift around her. She could feel it rearranging itself in the darkness. Walls and ceilings were changing their shape, the floor became damp beneath her feet and there was suddenly the putrid stench of blood, musty urine and faeces. The smell alone made her realise where Vex had put her. Fort Drakon.

From the darkness, two hands thudded into her shoulders and pushed her off her feet. As she landed in a chair, the room came into view. Four stone walls lit by one inadequate lantern. Two guards loomed over her and she didn't meet their gaze. A third guard tied her hands behind her back.

"She's all yours, Ser," one voice said with a sly chuckle.

Two hands held her steady in the chair and a fist pounded into her cheek.

This was a memory too. Everything happening now had unfolded this way in the waking world. During her brief stay at Fort Drakon she'd been pulled into an interrogation chamber several times a day. They'd beaten her and humiliated her. She'd never found out if it was for their own amusement or because Loghain had wanted her to suffer for killing Rendon Howe.

Her own glibness had carried her through it, but it hadn't been easy. She grinned through the pain and spat on the ground. Her body was trembling from the impact of the first blow, but it was the best she could manage.

"This really isn't much of an interrogation. Aren't you-" A back-handed smack across the face interrupted Harmony's sentence. Her lip split open that time, and the taste of blood dripped into her mouth. "Aren't you supposed to ask me a question?"

A hand grabbed yanked down on her hair and forced her to look up at the face of her tormentor. "This will go easier if you just take your lumps quietly like a good girl," she was told.

Harmony's eyes widened with shock, she couldn't quite believe who was speaking to her. In the years since the blight, the faces in this room had become blurred in her memories. Now though, she could see one of them very clearly, and she knew without a doubt that this was a true memory and no trick of the fade.

"Ser Ellin…"


End file.
